


Retribution

by Book_Mage



Series: Shift [3]
Category: unOrdinary (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Here we go!, Role Reversal, john-sera roleswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Mage/pseuds/Book_Mage
Summary: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good to do nothing."Sera was content with spending the rest of her high school days as someone perfectly ordinary. All that shattered when Arlo forced her to fight him. Now it's growing more and more difficult to keep her past from catching up with her, to keep the secret she's tried to keep hidden from resurfacing. People are finding out the truth one by one, and it's only a matter time before someone lets it slip that the so-called powerless one is actually the most powerful of them all.Upon his return from his month-long suspension, John discovers that things have changed since he was gone. It tough to put his finger on, but things are off. Arlo is far less assertive than he remembers. Elaine is even more timid. Isen is paranoid. Sera is distant. Something is wrong, and John's determined to find some answers.Life is no longer perfect at Wellston High School. Retribution is coming at the swift hands of a masked student, and it's time for judgement to fall.-Weekly updates.
Relationships: John Doe & Seraphina (unOrdinary)
Series: Shift [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928347
Comments: 114
Kudos: 93





	1. Putting Pieces Together

**Author's Note:**

> Opening note: While this is technically part three of this series, you don't really need to read parts one and two. I'll lay out the broad strokes of what happened as a recap.
> 
> \- John and Sera swap places, with John being school Ace, while Sera is the cripple from New Bostin.
> 
> \- Arlo and John are pretty much ready to toss hands with each other at any given moment honestly. Neither like the other much here.
> 
> \- William still wrote Unordinary, and Leilah still works for ZetaSci.
> 
> \- John got suspended for a month after getting caught with a copy of Unordinary.
> 
> \- At the end of Perfection, John was given a new copy of Unordinary from his father.
> 
> \- At the end of Useless, Sera was ambushed by Arlo, Meili and Ventus, forcing her to activate her powers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John figures some things out. Sera ties up some loose ends at school before John's return.

_What happened while I was gone?_

John glanced to the couch, where Sera laid. She’d already peeled off her blood-soaked blazer, revealing a just-as-stained shirt, covered in tears. She covered her face with her uninjured arm, eyes still red from earlier. Biting his lip, John pulled out his phone, dialing a number. After a couple rings, the person picked up.

“H-hello?” Elaine stuttered.

“Elaine, it’s me, John.” John said. “Can you come over to my place quick? I need your help with something.”

“John? What’re you doing back already?” Elaine said. “Aren’t you supposed to be suspended for another week?”

“That’s not important,” John said. “Can you just head over here? I’ll text you the address.”

“Ah, no problem!” Elaine replied, though her voice was still shaky. “I’ll be there as soon as I can!”

She ended the call, and John quickly texted her Sera’s address. Casting another glance to the prone Sera on the couch, John grabbed two glasses of water.

“Water?” he said, holding out a glass.

Sera nodded, maneuvering herself to a sitting position. She grabbed the glass, quickly sipping all of it. Once she finished, she wiped her mouth, setting the cup down.

“So...” John said awkwardly. “What happened?”

“I had a terrible week,” Sera said. “You know, without the school Ace to protect the cripple, everyone goes after her.”

“That’s not what I meant,” John sighed. “Sera, I’ve never seen you break down like that. I’m worried. You go complete radio silence for a week, and you expect not to worry?”

“If it makes you feel better, it wasn’t intentional,” Sera replied. “Two high tiers broke my phone, and another stole my laptop. I was pretty much cut off from you.

Why are you even back early?” Sera continued. “I thought things were going well with your dad.”

“Things continued to go well,” John confirmed. He scratched his head, looking away. “When you didn’t reply for a solid week, I was really worried. My dad let me head back a week early as a result.”

“Let me guess: You were planning on crashing at my place until you could head back to the dorms?” Sera said, a ghost of a smile dancing across her lips.

“Eheh. If that’s alright with you?”

“It’s fine,” Sera replied. “Now you’re back, everything will return to normal.”

Her eyes grew distant, and John got the feeling that she said that as more of an assurance to herself than to him.

“I’ve called Elaine,” he finally said. “She’ll be here soon, and we can heal you.”

“That’ll be nice,” Sera said, looking sourly at her arm. “Haven’t gotten this banged up in a while.”

Now that Sera was sitting up, John could get a better look at her injuries. Her shirt was ripped in multiple places from what looked like claws, and her right arm was completely shattered. John stared at her, trying to figure it out. Those claw marks eerily reminded him of the ones he once got from Meili in a fight. But why would Meili-

The doorbell rung, and John got to his feet. He swung open the front door, and Elaine stood there, gasping for air. She brushed a couple loose strands of hair away from her face, looking apologetic.

“I’m sorry I took so long,” she wheezed. “I was hanging out with Ar- a friend!”

“What? You can say you were hanging out with Arlo,” John said, confused. “Come right in.”

“Right,” Elaine said. “You don’t look too injured, John. Why did you call me?”

“It’s not me that needs healing,” John replied. “It’s for my friend.”

“You don’t mean-?” Elaine said, started entering through the doorway. She gasped, pointing at Sera as she yelled. “What’s she doing here!?!?”

“I live here,” Sera said, affronted. “Where do you think I stay? I’m not on campus.”

“Sera got badly injured by someone,” John said, eyes beginning to glow. “I’ll help with the healing, but I need your ability to do so.”

“R-right!” Elaine stuttered.

She activated her ability, and John quickly copied it. Together, they began healing Sera’s wounds. To John’s mild confusion, he noticed that Elaine’s aura was far weaker than usual, as if she’d already spent a decent chunk of energy on something else. But what caused her to do that?

Elaine shuffled, tilting her head as she examined the injuries. A flicker of recognition darted through her eyes, continued by a flash of fear. Her mouth went agape.

“Elaine, is something wrong?” John said.

“These injuries,” Elaine said. “I saw them. Before! At the-“

Her eyes widened, and her words caught in her throat. Sera’s expression darkened. 

“What is it?” John said.

“Yes, Elaine,” Sera probed, voice low. “What’s wrong?”

Elaine quivered, her green eyes sliding to Sera. “John, don’t these injuries look familiar?”

“Yeah, I thought the claw marks looked like something Meili would do,” John said, examining the claw marks on Sera’s arm. “But why would she have them?”

His eyes snapped to Sera’s shattered arm, which was still badly damaged. Pieces snapped into place. He’d seen those wounds before, because it had been inflicted on him multiple times during previous fights. Arlo’s barrier.

“Arlo,” John said lowly. “Arlo did this to you, didn’t he?”

“... Yes,” Sera finally said. “John, during your suspension, Arlo befriended me. I thought he had good intentions. I was wrong.”

“You mean he-!”

“He tricked me into going with him to Turf Wars,” Sera continued, ignoring his interruption. “There, he had Meili and Ventus attack me, before finishing the job himself. When I tried to break free, I damaged my arm.”

“That little-!” John started, getting to his feet. “That’s it. Suspension be damned, I’m marching over to school right now and beating his-“

“John, calm down,” Sera said, grabbing his shirt and tugging him back down. “As much I appreciate you defending me, you’ll only prolong your suspension this way. You can fight Arlo once you come back on Friday. Or on the weekend. Your choice. Plus, you’re scaring Elaine.”

Glancing over, John saw that Elaine was shaking like a leaf, staring at the both of them. She got up abruptly, looking away.

“The worst of it has been healed,” she blurted. “You’ll be able to handle the rest of it easily, John. I’ve- I’ve got to go.”

Before John could even say goodbye, Elaine turned on her heel, running out the door. John furrowed his brow.

“What’s up with her?” he asked.

“Probably just had a long day,” Sera said, looking disdainfully at her blood-soaked skirt. “Do you think I can get these stains out, or is a lost cause?”

“I think it’s a lost cause,” John said. He coughed. “Anyway. I’ve got something for you.”

He unzipped his duffel bag, digging around in it. “You remember how my Dad wrote Unordinary, right?”

“Kind of hard to forget.” Sera replied.

“I felt bad about having to burn your copy, so uh, here,” John said, handing her a familiar book. “My Dad had an extra copy lying around.”

Sera took the book from him, looking at the copy. Her eyes softened, and she smiled for the first since John had gotten back. She held the book to her chest.

“Thank you, John,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

John looked away, scratching his neck. “Don’t worry about. It’s my fault the book got confiscated in the first place.

After spending some time with my Dad and thinking about what you said about the book, I realized some important things,” John said. “I think... I think I’ve been too complacent at school lately, with the low-tiers getting bullied and all. I want to help them out.”

“Oh, playing hero now, are we?” Sera said. “That’s a tall order at a school like Wellston.”

“I know,” John said. “But I’m the Ace for a reason, right? I should be able to do something. Besides, you remember that one quote from English, right? ‘Evil triumphs when good does nothing’, or something like that, right?”

“It’s ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’,” Sera corrected. “Edmund Burke said that.”

“Exactly,” John said. “I want to stop all the fighting in school. I don’t see you or any other low tiers needing to step into the infirmary again.”

“How chivalrous,” Sera teased. “Unordinary had a radical effect on you, after all. You’re not planning on slapping on a ski mask and stopping crime, are you?”

“No,” John said. As an afterthought, he tacked. “Not yet, that is.”

Both of them dissolved into uninhibited laughter, and John finally relaxed after the long day. Sera seemed to be returning to her normal demeanor, and now that he was back, Arlo couldn’t try anything new.

Everything was fine.

* * *

Sera walked down the halls of the school. Whispers floated about, though interestingly, they were about the King himself.

“I heard that Arlo went to the infirmary with a bunch of bruises on his face.”

“No way! No one could even touch him without getting their ass whooped.”

_Arlo got caught? Interesting. I thought he would’ve had Elaine heal everything._

_Then again... I did mess up Meili and Ventus badly, and John called pretty soon after._

As Sera stopped outside her classroom, she had the acute feeling of being watched. She turned around. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of orange disappearing behind the corner. Sera sighed.

Sera turned the corner quickly, seeing Isen leaned against a locker, casually sparking a conversation with Blyke. Sera bit the inside of her cheek.

“Isen,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you about that article you had planned.”

“What?” Isen said, looking everywhere but in her eyes.

“What’s she talking about, Isen?” Blyke said, giving her a cold look. 

_He’s still angry about the Remi incident, isn’t he? Fine._

Sera met his gaze with an equally sharp look. “A couple weeks ago, Isen approached with propositions about an article are low tiers. He ended up interviewing me, and I wanted to see how it was going.”

Blyke raised an eyebrow, the two of them engaging in a silent stand-off. Isen dove between them, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

“Don’t worry about it, Blyke!” Isen said cheerfully. “I’ll meet you in class.”

Still suspicious, Blyke shot Sera one more sour look before leaving. Isen dropped his arms, deflating. Sera tilted her head.

“Let’s head to somewhere secluded,” she said. “I have quite a lot to talk to you about.”

* * *

They ended up on the rooftop of the school. Isen tugged at the sleeve of his blazer, looking apprehensive. Sera leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.

“You went digging, didn’t you?” Sera said. “I could’ve sworn I clarified that I didn’t appreciate you combing through my personal life. And now you’ve gone and found everything out.

The question is, what’re you going to do with that information?” Sera said, leaning against the fence. “Are you intending on publishing it as an exposé? Big news! School cripple really most powerful of them all! Drama drama drama!”

“N-no!” Isen said. He clenched his fists. “I tried to stop Arlo from going after you once I figured everything out.”

“You didn’t do enough,” Sera said, letting the words hang in the air. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumours about what happened, haven’t you?”

“I’ve heard.” Isen said. “I’m not publishing that article. I’ve scrapped it altogether. Once John gets back, we can all act like this never happened.”

“Excellent choice,” Sera intoned. “I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding.”

As she turned to leave, Isen asked a single question.

“Does John know?”

Sera froze. Isen continued. “If he doesn’t, you sho-“

He stopped. His limbs faded to grey, locking up. Sera spun around, eyes glowing.

“You’re not in the position to tell me what to do,” she said. “If John does find out, I’ll know exactly who told him.”

Isen fell silent. “... For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for how I acted during the interview.”

Sera raised an eyebrow. “Why? Because I turned out to be far more powerful than you thought? What if I was a normal cripple? Would you have been sorry then?”

She lifted her powers and left without another word.

* * *

John sat on the couch, tapping on his phone. There was a creak at the front door, and John looked up in confusion.

_School hasn’t ended yet. Why is Sera back early?_

Instead of Sera, a tall, purple-haired woman stepped through the door, a matching suitcase trailing behind her. Something about her looked incredibly familiar, but John couldn’t place his finger on it. She looked just as confused as John was. She lifted the slip of paper in hand, re-reading it.

“It says this is the right address,” she murmured.

She looked up, revealing striking green eyes. John realized with a jolt who it was.

“You’re Leilah, aren’t you?” he said. “Sera’s sister.”

“You know her?” Leilah said. Her eyes brightened. “You must be John! Sera’s told me about you.”

She rubbed her neck. “Phew! Thought for a second that I accidentally broke into someone’s house. It’s nice to finally meet you, John.”

“Likewise,” John replied, getting to his feet. “Sera’s in school still, but she’ll be back soon.”

“Is she alright?” Leilah said. “She wasn’t replying to any of my texts or calls, so I took a couple days off to check up on her.”

“She’s... fine,” John said after a moment’s hesitation. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

* * *

John grabbed both of them some water, and Leilah sat on the couch, tilting her head back.

“So, why are you staying here too?” Leilah said. “Aren’t you a student?”

“Got suspended for a month,” John said. “Got caught with a banned book.”

“Let me guess,” Leilah said. “Unordinary?”

“Yep,” John replied. “Had to stay with my dad for a bit. Like you, I got worried about Sera when she didn’t reply to any of her texts, so I came back early. Good thing I did too.”

He clenched his fists. "When I came back, I found her completely beaten up."

“She was badly injured?” Leilah said, face intermingled with both concern and confusion. “Who did that?”

“Arlo,” John growled. “King of Wellston. Went after her while I was gone because she couldn’t defend herself.”

If possible, Leilah looked even more confused. “Couldn’t defend herself?”

“Arlo’s a high tier,” John said bitterly. “He’s one of the most powerful students in the school. He can create barriers.”

“That makes little sense though,” Leilah said. “Even against someone like that, she should be able to-“

The front door swung open, and Sera entered. “Hey John, I’m back. How was the house when I was gone-?“

She stopped upon seeing Leilah. “Leilah? What’re you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back!
> 
> After taking a month to reflect on some things and write some chapter drafts, there was a shift (haha) in plans. Basically, there'll be some canon divergences. Hope everyone's cool with that.
> 
> Reflecting back, I'm dissatisfied with how Useless turned out, but honestly, I don't have it in me to rewrite it at the moment. Maybe in the future, but not now. I still like Perfection tho. I had fun with that one.
> 
> Anyways, I'll be updating on a weekly basis! I have enough chapter drafts done to last me a month or two, and I'll def be writing more during that time, so hopefully everything goes well! If not, I'll just take a short break to finish them.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	2. Unexpected Events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leilah visits Sera and John. Sera contemplates her future. On his final day of suspension, John is attacked.

“Leilah, what’re you doing here?”

Leilah drew to her feet. “You suddenly cut contact, and I grew worried. I was already going to take some time off, so I made a visit.”

“My phone broke,” Sera said. “Some students did it.”

“John told me that,” Leilah said, gesturing behind her to John, who waved. “He also told me about his someone in your school beat you up. How did you-“

Shit. Did she say anything?

“Leilah, can I talk to you for a minute?” she interrupted. Her eyes darted to John. “Alone?”

“I’ll head upstairs,” John said, getting to his feet. “Call me down when you’re done.”

He shot her a concerned look as he passed, and Sera shook her head. As soon as she heard the door snap shut upstairs, Sera turned back to Leilah.

“You didn’t tell John about my powers, did you?” she said, hands shaking.

“No,” Leilah said, looking shocked. “He doesn’t know?”

“I’m... I’m pretending to be a cripple at school.” Sera said.

“What!?” Leilah yelled. “Why would you do that!?”

“I felt bad about using my powers, okay!?” Sera hissed. “The readjustment lessons made me see them in an entirely different light.”

“You... You always could keep herself in check,” Sera continued, limply gesturing towards her. “I don’t have that self-control.”

“You haven’t even used any of your powers around him?” Leilah said. “They’re easy to hide if you’re careful.”

“John’s basically a walking ability detector,” Sera said. “He’d know if I used them.”

“Ah,” Leilah said. She fell silent. “You know Sera, the longer you wait-“

“The worse it’ll be,” Sera finished bitterly. The last thing she felt like hearing was the same spiel Isen tried to give her earlier. “I know. I just... I’m content with the life I have right now.”

“But you can’t keep this up forever,” Leilah said. “Do you intend to live the rest of your life as a cripple?”

“Maybe I will,” Sera said.

She’d never considered the concept before, but Sera had seen how power corrupted her people. She wasn’t like Leilah, who had the courage to run away and rebuild her life from scratch. She wasn’t like John, who had the confidence to use his powers like the hero from Unordinary.

She was a coward, and all she could do now was use her powers behind the scenes to keep the masquerade intact. Cracks were forming, and Sera needed to seal them up before they grew.

“Can we just talk about something else?” Sera sighed.

“Fine,” Leilah relented. She tilted her head up and shouted. “John! You can come down!”

John headed back down the stairs. “You two good?”

“We’re done,” Sera confirmed. “How was the house while I was gone?”

“Fine,” John said. “Apart from your sister accidentally breaking in.”

Leilah laughed. 

“How long are you staying, Leilah?” Sera said.

“Just a couple nights,” Leilah replied. “I’ve got a date this Saturday with Darren, and I’ll be heading back home after that!”

“Darren?” John said.

“Her boyfriend.” Sera said, taking a sip of water. “Am I ever going to meet the mystery man? You’re always talking about him, but I’ve yet to actually see a picture of him, let alone meet him.”

“Well, I’ve got a picture,” Leilah said, pulling out his phone. She laughed to herself. “I think you’d get along well with him. You two have the same wry sense of humour.”

She held her phone for Sera to look. Sera choked on her drink, and John leaned over to see the reason for her shock. His eyes widened.

“Is that... Doc...?” he said. He laughed. “Oh trust me, Leilah, he and Sera get along very well.”

“You two know him?” Leilah said.

“He’s the school nurse,” Sera said numbly. “We’re familiar.”

“Familiar,” John laughed. “The two of them get into arguments pretty much every day because Sera tries to sneak out of the infirmary.”

“Darren mentioned there were a couple trouble students at school,” Leilah mused. “I had no idea he was referring to you, Sera. Small world.”

“In my defense, I don’t start fights, I end them.” Sera said, crossing her arms. “I just get thrown around now and then.”

“Though I’m looking forward to meeting him now,” she snickered. “I can’t wait to see the look of abject horror on his face when he realizes that we’ll be in-laws.”

“He’ll be stuck patching you up for the rest of his life,” John laughed, shaking his head. “Thought he was finally going to be home free once you graduated, huh?”

“Fate’s a cruel mistress,” Sera agreed.

“Well, I’m glad you two’ll at least know each other already,” Leilah interjected. “Darren’s a nice man when he isn’t stuck patching up high school students all day. There’s far too much violence at schools these days, and it seems Wellston is no exception.”

“Fair enough,” John replied. “I’d be miserable too, seeing students walk into the infirmary again and again, and not being able to stop it.”

“Where is the headmaster in all of this?” Leilah pressed. “Shouldn’t he be stepping in?”

“Vaughn tries his best,” Sera said. “If things get too violent, he will intervene and suspend a student. Doesn’t happen much, though. It’s hard to moderate it when there’s fighting at almost every corner.”

“What even is Vaughn’s ability?” John wondered. “I’ve never seen him use it, but I heard he’s a high tier. You’d have to be one to get a position like that.”

“Yeah, in a world like this, prestige is everything,” Sera muttered. “Cripples never even get a chance.”

John patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Sera. You’re smart enough, and once people get to know you, they’ll see that you’re more than capable of any job!”

He smiled brightly at her, and Leilah shot Sera a knowing look, eyes worried.

_I know Leilah. Just... Just let me revel in this perfect life for now. I’ll deal with reality later._

* * *

John awoke the next morning to a loud crash.

“Damn it!” Leilah voice shouted. “Sera, why are all the pots jammed in there like this!?”

“Not my fault your terrible at cooking,” Sera’s calm voice answered.

“My cooking ability has nothing to do with this!” Leilah sputtered back.

John rolled out of bed, rubbing his head as he walked down the stairs. Leilah was holding a large pan in her hand, while Sera was already fully dressed for school, her bag slung around her shoulder.

“I’m leaving for school,” Sera said. She turned to John. “Can you make sure my sister doesn’t burn down the house while I’m gone?”

“Duly noted,” John replied. “See you soon.”

Sera gave a wave goodbye, shutting the door behind her. Leilah turned to John, waving a frying pan in the air.

“We,” she said. “Are going to make some breakfast.”

* * *

Forty minutes and three failed attempts later, John and Leilah were sitting at the table, half-overcooked, half-raw eggs in front of them. Not even John’s cooking ability could save whatever Leilah was in the kitchen.

“Well, it could’ve gone worse?” John said weakly.

“I think this is the best we’re going to get,” Leilah agreed. “Maybe we should just cut our losses and get some sandwiches.”

* * *

John ended up doing that. After quickly changing out his pajamas, both he and Leilah headed out to one of the nearby shops, purchasing some sandwiches.

“This is much better,” Leilah said, taking another bite of her sandwich. “Pretty good, actually.”

“If like those, I should take you to Woaba Boba,” John said. “They have some great boba tea.”

“Ooh nice!” Leilah said. “Haven’t had one of those in ages. There aren’t any nearby where I live.”

“Where do you live?” John said.

“A couple cities over,” Leilah replied, waving a hand. “Close enough that I can drive here for emergencies. Darren and I usually meet halfway for dates.”

“Darren,” John repeated, shaking his head. “How did you two even end up dating?”

“It’s a long and very convoluted story,” Leilah replied. She tapped her chin. “I believe it started with a clothes hanger? Or was it coffee? Can’t remember exactly.”

She grinned. “It’s going to be very fun seeing his reaction once I tell him my sister’s name, though.”

“Please send me a picture when you do.”

Leilah laughed. “You’re an interesting boy, John. How did you and Sera end up friends?”

“Cake,” John said. “That’s all you need to know. It was back in second year.”

“Right, I think I remember that,” Leilah said. “You were King, right? I remember Sera saying that much on one of our calls. You must be powerful. What’s your level?”

“Last I checked, 7.6 I think?” John said. “My power’s Aura Manipulation. Basically, I can copy abilities, and amplify them to a certain extent.”

“Wow!” Leilah said, eyes widening. “That’s a powerful ability!”

“What about you?” John said. “Do you have an ability?”

“Time Manipulation,” Leilah replied. “I think I’m roughly a 6.4?”

“Wow,” John said, floored. “That’s damn powerful too!”

Leilah laughed, rubbing her neck. “I suppose it is. I don’t use it much these days, but it is handy for when I need some more time to finish a project. How does your power work?”

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but I can sense auras,” John said, gesturing vaguely. “When people activate their abilities, I can latch onto them, copy it, then amplify it. However, I need see the ability to copy it, so if people have, say, precognition, I can’t copy it.”

“Would you be able to copy my ability?” Leilah said.

“I don’t know,” John admitted. “The more complicated an ability is, the more practice it takes for me to effectively copy it. I might be able to copy an aspect or two, but with something as tricky as time manipulation, I’d imagine it’d take a while to figure out.”

“Interesting,” Leilah murmured. “Your ability is rare, John. Do any other family members have it too?”

“I’m not sure?” John said, scratching his neck. “My dad’s a cripple, and most of his family is either the same or a low tier. If I had to guess, it came from my mom’s side. And well... she’s been out of the picture for a while.”

“Oh.” Leilah said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” John said, waving a hand. “It’s been me and Dad as long as I can remember. Why do you ask?”

“I work for a company that specializes in ability research,” Leilah said. “It’s called ZetaSci.”

“ZetaSci...” John murmured. “I’ve don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s still rather new,” Leilah said. “It’s like NXGEN, which you’ve likely heard of.”

“The ability testing company?” John said. “I’ve heard about it once or twice, I think. Weren’t they raided a couple months ago?”

“They were,” Leilah confirmed. “With an ability like yours, you’d be incredibly helpful with research. Maybe after high school, you’ll join us there.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” John replied.

* * *

Once Sera got back from school, they returned to spending time with each other. Leilah began to animatedly tell work stories, and Sera half-listened, half-played video games with John. 

Leilah’s phone buzzed, and she quickly grabbed it. When she glanced at the screen, her expression shifted. She quickly got up, giving both Sera and John an apologetic smile.

“I need to take this,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

She quickly headed off to the porch, out of earshot of both of them. John turned to Sera.

“Your sister’s cool,” he said. “We had a pleasant talk this morning.”

“Leilah always been like that,” Sera said. “Even when I was young, she always sneak us out of the house with her time powers so we could do things.”

Her eyes grew distant, and John awkwardly looked away. While he’d gotten a better understanding of how Sera and Leilah got along over the last few days, he still had the feeling he was missing a rather sizeable chunk of the story.

“Well, the good news is, I’ll be out of your hair by tomorrow at three!” John said, changing the subject. “I’ll be moving back into the dorms back then.”

“Good,” Sera said. “When I checked the fridge earlier, half the eggs were gone. Between you and Leilah, you’re costing me a fortune.”

“Oops?”

The front door swung open, and Leilah returned, looking significantly more frazzled.

“I’m really sorry, Sera, but I have to go,” she said. “ZetaSci needs me to handle an emergency.”

“It’s okay,” Sera said. “I know your job keeps you busy.”

“Once you get a phone, call me, okay?” Leilah said. “I’ve missed our chats.”

“Will do,” Sera said. “I’ll miss you.”

“You too,” Leilah said, sweeping her sister into a hug. “Remember, if anything like that happens in school again, call me, and I’ll drive over and whoop their asses.”

“Leilah.“

“Just kidding!” Leilah laughed. She pointed to John. “I know he’ll do the work for me.”

“I gotchu,” John laughed.

“I appreciate both of your concern for my wellbeing, but I can handle myself,” Sera sighed. “I will pick up a new phone sometime soon, Leilah, and call you then.”

“Good,” Leilah said, giving her a thumbs up. “I’ve got to go pack. It’s been nice meeting you, John!”

“You too!” John said, waving at her.

After Leilah finished packing her things, she gave Sera one more quick hug goodbye (much to Sera’s chagrin), then quickly headed to her car, driving away into the night.

* * *

The next day, John exited Woaba Boba, drink in hand. He idly scrolled through his phone, taking a sip from his drink. Only two more hours, then he’d be back in the dorms.

“AH!”

John barely had time to look up before he crashed into someone. Sticky mango boba splattered all over his t-shirt, and he nearly dropped his phone. John stumbled back, shoving his phone in his pocket as he in vain tried to wipe off the orange stains.

“Oh, my goodness!” said the woman, “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s alright,” John laughed, rubbing at his shirt. “I should’ve been watching where I was going.”

“I feel so bad though,” the woman said. “Here- I’ll buy you a new drink, or a shirt.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” John said, waving a hand. “I drink far too much boba. I’ll just change when I get back at home.”

“No please,” the woman said, lacing her hand around his wrist. “I insist.”

As soon as her hand wrapped around his wrist, John’s senses went off. He pried his hand free, stumbling back. Sunglasses covered the woman’s eyes, but he definitely felt her power activate. What was it, though? It wasn’t something he could copy, meaning that it wasn’t something he could physically see.

I have to get out of here.

“That’ll be fine,” John said, holding his hand to his chest. “I need to go.”

He turned on his heel, dashing off. His feet grew heavy as he ran, like two weights were attached to them. John placed a hand on the wall, holding his head. Something wasn’t right.

His intuition came true moments later, when loud honks filled the air. John’s head shot up, seeing a car come crashing through. He jumped out of the way, but the car now fenced him in the alley, leaving the way to escape. People poured out of the car, concerned expression on their faces.

“Holy shit! Are you alright!?”

“My partner lost control of the wheel.”

“What were you thinking, losing control like that!”

“Sorry, sorry! My bad!”

One man stepped up. “Are you injured, sir?”

“I’m fine,” John said cautiously. “I dodged it in time.”

“At least let us take you to the hospital,” one woman said. “Come with us.”

She grabbed his wrist, trying to drag John off. John slapped her hand away. Once again, his senses went off.

_Behind me-!_

John ducked, seeing a man appear from a portal in the ground. Quickly copying his ability, John swiftly swept his leg out, knocking the man behind him to the ground. A needle filled with translucent blue liquid crashed to the ground, spilling everywhere.

“What the hell?” John muttered. “What are-“

A blinding pain filled his abdomen. John looked down, seeing a knife sticking from his side. His eyes widened. The woman who stabbed him grabbed his arm, eyes glowing.

“You had to do things the hard way.” she sighed.

John closed his eyes, his mind racing a mile a minute. Like before, he was growing drowsy from whatever the woman had done to him.

_I just have to do it once._

John slipped through a black portal in the ground, breaking free from the woman as he did so. When John came to, he was on the other side of the truck. John looked down at the knife embedded in his abdomen. Pulling it out would only cause greater damage.

_I have to get out of here._

Holding his bleeding side, John half-ran, half-stumbled down the street, towards Sera’s house. His hurried appearance and the knife in his side captured far too much attention from other civilians, and he had to brush off a number of them, continuing to run for Sera's house. When he reached there, he fumbled with the house keys, nearly dropping them. He unlocked the door, slamming it shut behind him.

With the adrenaline wearing off, John was feeling drowsy, likely because of whatever that woman had done to him back there. His vision was blurry as he pulled out his phone. Dropping to his knees, John tapped at the screen frantically, leaving sticky red fingerprints as he did so.

Bzzt...

Bzzt...

Someone picked up.

“Hello?”

John didn’t answer. His phone slipped between his fingers, clattering to the ground. John looked down.

Huh.

Why did he have a knife in his side?

That was weird.

“John? Why are you calling me? This isn’t about Seraphina, is it?”

John curled up on the ground, pain shooting through his side. Why was he so tired?

Everything was blurry.

So blurry.

“John!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, if I'm getting the timeline right for this, in canon, the ambush would've happened on a Tuesday, because the next day, John father's come to visit, stays a full night, then leaves the next night on a Thursday. Then the next day, Sera moves back into her dorms and gets attacked. I know this is a weird thing to ramble about, but I want to keep some kind of continuity rolling.
> 
> As a small fun fact, this chapter was originally titled 'Leilah's Ruminations' in my notes, but it was changed to better reflect chapter content. There was also supposed to be another passage, but it was getting kind of long and ehhh... 
> 
> Great thanks to Aracknitor and couldnt_bother_to_log_in for their kind comments! I really appreciate it!
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	3. What He Doesn't Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The intruders make their move.

When the last bell tolled, Sera was more than happy to leave class. School had been as boring as always, and she was more than looking forward to John's return on Monday. Instinctively, her fingers twitched towards the pocket where her phone should be, only to receive the bitter reminder that it was still empty.

_You can buy a new one sometime soon, Sera. For now, the landline will have to do._

_That reminds me... I should probably have Arlo give me back my laptop, if he still has it._

Swept up in her own ruminations, Sera absentmindedly walked towards the gate, until someone jolted her out of her thoughts. Sera glanced at the hand on her shoulder, expression souring as she saw the owner.

"Arlo, what do you want?" she said.

"Seraphina, is John staying at your house?" Arlo said, voice tinged with something Sera couldn't identify. Beside him, Elaine nervously tugged on her uniform ribbon.

"How is that any of your business?" Sera said.

"John called me," Arlo said, crossing his arms. "He's in trouble."

"Nice try," Sera said, turning away from him. "What makes you think I'll believe you?"

"This," Arlo replied, holding up his phone.

Sera glanced at the screen. It showed Arlo's call history, and sure enough, there was a received call from John at the top, from less than an hour earlier.

_What the hell?_

_Unless this is some kind of elaborate plan, something might've happened to John._

"... Fine," Sera said. "He's staying at my place."

She raised a finger, pointing at them. "If this is some kind of elaborate trick though, you two better watch out."

With a huff, she turned around, beginning to speedwalk towards her home. Arlo and Elaine followed closely behind.

When Sera reached the front door, she noticed a couple bloody fingerprints spotting the doorknob. Her stomach dropped. Sera creaked open the door slowly, a thick, metallic scent assaulting her as she did so.

John was collapsed on the ground, one hand clutched to the half-dislodged knife in his abdomen. His cracked phone was next to him, covered in bloody fingerprints. Sera dropped to her knees, hands shaking.

"John!" she shouted. "John!"

Elaine entered behind her, eyes widening as she saw what happened to John. Even Arlo looked shaken.

"How did this even happen?" she said. "John's... John. What the heck happened to him!? I'm going to need some explana-"

"Elaine, will you shut up!" Sera snapped. "Just heal him!"

Elaine drew back. With impressive composure, she steeled her expression, gently prying John's fingers off the knife.

"Sorry, John," she murmured. "This is going to hurt."

She pulled out the knife, and the unconscious John sharply inhaled. Elaine's hands glowed immediately, beginning to heal the wound.

"Seraphina, do you have any idea who did this?" Arlo said, finally speaking. "John is difficult to defeat."

"Even John isn't infallible," Sera replied. "If someone got the jump on him, it's possible they could overpower him. If he doesn't copy an ability, he doesn't have any powers to fight back with."

"That doesn't answer who did it though," Arlo said. "Why would someone go after John?"

"I don't know," Sera snapped. "I don't have all the answers, Arlo."

"We'll be getting answers soon," Elaine mumbled, nearly inaudible. "Most of the damage was from the stab wound. He should wake up any moment now."

She placed both of her hands in front of her, looking disdainfully at the puddle of blood. "Most likely, he passed out from blood loss."

"No shit," Sera muttered.

"Urgh..."

Everyone whipped their heads around. John's golden eyes fluttered open, and he held a hand to his forehead. "What the hell...?"

"John, are you alright?" Sera said. "I found you unconscious with a stab wound on your side. Care to explain why?"

"Stab wound?" John said, still half-asleep. "That's weird."

Shaking his head, John sat up, holding his side. He looked at Elaine confused, then shifted his attention to Arlo.

"You." he said.

"John," Arlo replied just as tersely. "What ha-"

With impressive speed for someone who was unconscious a minute before, John sprang up, punching Arlo in the face. Arlo backed up, and John stumbled over his own feet, still shaky from his stab wound. With a quivering finger, John pointed at Arlo.

"You're dead," he snarled.

"What?" Arlo said, holding his bleeding nose. "John, you-"

"Sera told me everything," John interrupted sharply. "About how you ambushed her, dragged her out to the Turf Wars to humiliate her and beat her half to death, all for being a cripple."

"What?" Arlo said. "I don't know what Sera told you, but she is not-"

"We don't have time for this!" Sera interjected. "John, Arlo's here because you called him. Case in point, what the heck happened to you while I was gone?"

"I went out to get some boba," John said, scratching his head. "On the way back, this woman ran into me. Looking back, she was probably with them."

"Them?" Sera said.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there!" John said hastily. "She ran into me and spilled my boba. She grabbed my arm, and she activated her ability... I think it makes people drowsy? Then, these people tried to abduct me... I think they tried injecting me with something? I didn't get a very good look at it."

"Then they stabbed you?" Arlo said.

"Then they stabbed me," John confirmed, hand flickering to his side. "One person could create portals, so I used that to escape. I ran back to Sera's house and passed out."

He glanced down at his phone. "Well, I guess I called someone first."

"So people wanted to kidnap you..." Sera said. "Were there any identifying markers? Do remember the license plate number of the van? Any physical descriptors?"

"No," John admitted. "It all happened so fast, most of it's a blur in my mind."

"Did anyone follow you on the way back?" Arlo said.

"I don't know," John said, clearly frustrated. "Everything that happened after I got stabbed is fuzzy."

The room fell silent. Elaine eventually spoke.

"So, what're we going to do?" she said, nervously twisting a strand of her around her finger. "If they followed you back here, they might know where you're staying."

"I guess I'll just keep watch all night," John said.

"What?" Sera said. "John, you're supposed to go back to the dorms."

"That was before this," John said, pointing to his fresh scar. "I'm not leaving you alone here."

"Elaine and I will stay too," Arlo said. "If someone comes, you're going to need backup."

"No." John said bluntly.

"Look John, if you're that bothered by what happened, we can head out to Turf Wars and fight there after all of this over," Arlo said, crossing his arms. "But you've been overpowered and nearly kidnapped by a pack of mid-tiers. Something is obviously afoot, and I'm leaving until we get answers."

John still looked ready to fling himself across the table at Arlo, but Elaine intervened, stepping between the two of them.

"It's getting late," she agreed. "Vaughn will have left his office by now. We'll stay the night, then inform Vaughn of what happened tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Fine." Sera grumbled. "But you two are taking the couches."

* * *

That night, John awoke to a stitching pain in his side. Even though he knew it was just his imagination, he couldn't help but feel the phantom pain of the knife embedded in his side. As he got up, Sera stirred, eyes flitting open.

"John?" she said.

"Sorry for waking you," John apologized. "Just my side acting up again."

"Elaine healed it, didn't she?" Sera said. "If she did a half-assed job-"

"It's not that," John said. "I'm just still bothered by everything. I barely remember anything from the incident, and now the thing with Arlo-"

"Don't work yourself up over it," Sera replied. "That'll only be damaging to yourself in the long run. We should get some sle-"

Elaine's high-pitched screech interrupted them, followed by a shout. "ARLO!"

A loud thud came from downstairs, followed by loud grunts.

"What're the two of them doing down there?" Sera said.

"By the sound of things, hitting first base," John replied.

Sera gave him a disgusted look. John raised both his hands.

"What? You asked a question, and I gave you an answer!"

"Backup be damned, if they're doing that on my couch, they're leaving." Sera said stonily. "Stay up here in case someone comes."

She stomped downstairs, flicking on the light. "Alright lovebirds, show's over. The two of you can- what the hell?"

Elaine was crouched on the couch, bloody knife in hand, while Arlo was pinning an intruder to the ground, a golden barrier surrounding them.

"Lovebirds?" Elaine squeaked, her cheeks going red. "Did you-"

"Who's that?" Sera said.

"It seems our intruder came back for another shot at getting John," Arlo said, knee pressing down on the intruder's chest. He ripped off the man's mask. "You've got some explaining to do. You better speak up."

"You're not getting anything out of me," the man said, holding up his arms in surrender.

Sera sighed. "I have some jumping ropes. We can tie him up with those. Then we'll work on prying an answer out of him."

Elaine cast a glance at her. "Why don't you use your-?"

"That isn't an option," Sera said harshly.

Elaine looked from Sera to upstairs. Realization dawned in her eyes. "Does John not know?"

"No," Sera said, teeth clenched. "And if both of you know what's good for you, we're keeping it that way."

"How can you not even tell your-!"

"Elaine, let it go," Arlo said. "We don't have time to focus on Sera's questionable life decisions at this moment."

He returned his attention to the man. "We're missing something vital here. Someone like you wouldn't be able to overpower John. What's your motive?"

"Me? I'm nothing special," the man said, eyes flicking to the stairs.

"What?"

"I'm just a distraction."

A loud crash came from upstairs, followed by John yelling.

* * *

"What the hell!"

John dodged another swipe from the man, eyes glowing. Clenched in the intruder's fist was another syringe, one glowing bright blue. John had a feeling that if they hit him with that, things would head south. Thankfully, he had the man's ability on his side.

Tch. I can't fight effectively in a small space like this!

John maneuvered around the man, swinging through the window the man had broken on his way in. Glass shards bit into his hands, but John ignored the pain. He landed to the ground harmlessly thanks to the ability he copied, though now he faced a second problem.

Sitting at the curb was a white van, presumably the one the intruders had come in. A rush of wind came from behind him, and John spun, dodging another blow from the man in the window. He slammed the man in the back of the neck, momentarily disabling him. John shot a glance at the window.

Shit... What're the other three doing? Why aren't they coming?

The van roared to life, and John only had time to turn before the headlights blinded him. There was a loud crack, and a golden barrier appeared in front of John, splintering from the impact. The van reared back, preparing to strike again. John threw up his arms, a black barrier appearing.

He stole a glance behind him, seeing Arlo hunched over the windowsill, coughing up blood.

_Why couldn't I sense him when he came? What's going on?_

The van slammed into his barrier, this time breaking it, and smashing into John. Pain exploded across John's chest, and he fell to the ground limply. Through his blurred vision, John could see the intruder from earlier get up, grabbing him.

"Oh no you don't!"

Sera jumped from the shadows, wrapping a jump-rope around the man's neck, and tightening it. The man choked, and Elaine came from the other side, a bloodied knife clutched in her fingers. She knelt down to John, trying to heal him as fast as he could. Her hands flickered in and out as she tried to heal him, her ability malfunctioning.

"It's alright, I'm fine," John muttered, stumbling to his feet. "Where were you guys?"

"We had a plan," Sera said placidly. "How're you doing?"

"Just peachy," John said, waving a hand. "You know. Suffering internal bleeding. Getting run over. All in a day's work."

The van reared back, a man's yelling coming from within. "We're running out of time! Finish them!"

Sera tightened the rope again, and the man choked. Suddenly, her expression shifted, and she dropped the rope altogether, hands going for her leg. The man wrenched himself free, and John saw that he'd stabbed Sera in the thigh.

Without sparing a second glance towards them, the man activated his powers, heading straight for the car. A portal formed in front of them, and a third man stepped out. John jumped back.

_Why can't I sense either of them? What's going on?_

The van roared to life once more, speeding off. As they did so, something in the air shifted, almost feeling like a thickness had lifted, akin to taking out earplugs. Finally, he could sense Elaine's powers activating as she healed her arm.

"What the hell just happened?" John breathed.

* * *

For the second time that night, the four of them found themselves seated around Sera's kitchen table. Elaine was healing Arlo, while John a glowing hand to his own chest, wiping away the occasional spurt of blood that leaked past his lips. Sera tightly wrapped a bandage around her thigh, waving away Elaine when she offered to heal her.

"I'll be fine," Sera said. "Focus on healing those two."

Once everyone was (mostly) healed, Sera finally spoke. "So, are we going to talk about what just happened?"

"Something wasn't right with that van," John said. "I couldn't sense anyone using their abilities until it left. It was like something blocked them."

"My healing powers were barely working either," Elaine agreed. She glanced at Arlo. "Your barrier wasn't as strong either."

"So there's a possibility of a power dampener?" Sera said. "Sounds ludicrous."

"Not exactly," Arlo said. "Think about it. If I wanted to capture a high-tier, what would I do? Keep them from activating their ability. If I had to guess, it works for a limited time and range."

"Explains why they were in a hurry to leave," John said. "All we can do is speculate at the moment."

The room fell silent, all of them contemplative.

"Well, what can we do then?" Elaine said.

"Isn't it obvious?" John said. "We head to Vaughn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And close!
> 
> Admittedly, this was a chapter I had some issues with. Fights aren't exactly my forte, and for the longest time this chapter didn't even have a title, instead being referred to as 'Placeholder' in my notes. In the end, I'm mildly displeased with how it turned out, but it does it's job. Ah well.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	4. Change of Scenery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone discusses with Vaughn what happened. John makes his return to school.

“... And that’s what happened, sir.” John finished.

All four of them sat in Headmaster Vaughn’s office, explaining what had occurred the previous night. Vaughn leaned back in this seat, drumming his fingers along his armrest.

“Thank you all for informing me,” he said. “I’ll advise Keene to tighten security around the school. It’s no coincidence they attacked you outside of our premises. Though one question. Why were you staying in Seraphina’s house in the first place?”

John hesitated. “I got sent home a week early by accident. I wasn’t allowed to re-enter dorms until that next Friday, so I stayed with Sera until then.”

An awkward silence filled the room. John coughed. “Anyway. When I got attacked, someone tried to inject with something. I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“They might’ve been able to find traces of it before,” Sera said, shrugging. “By now, though, I doubt they’ll find anything.”

“Maybe I should’ve let myself get injected,” John muttered. “At least we’d have an idea about what they were planning then.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Arlo said. “More likely, you would’ve been caught and thrown into that truck.

If anything, there was how our powers were weaker than usual,” he continued. “The truck had some kind of dampening effect.”

“A dampening effect?” Vaughn said.

“Yeah!” Elaine agreed. “I couldn’t heal myself at all, and John and Arlo were much weaker than usual! It was like they turned our powers off!”

Vaughn’s expression grew troubled. “I see. This entire event could’ve turned out very differently. While the school can protect you on campus, once you cross the threshold Keene set up, you’re unprotected.”

He shifted his attention to Sera, nodding at her. “For the reason, I ask that you, Seraphina, move into the dorms.”

“... What.” Sera said flatly.

“I’ve allowed you to live off-campus until now,” Vaughn said. “But after the events of what happened last night, that’s due to change. If they nearly kidnapped the highest ranked student in the school, I doubt you could defeat them.”

He leveled his stern gaze to Sera, who bit her lip. She looked down, rubbing her arm.

Elaine spoke up. “He has a point, Seraphina. Those people know where you live now. It’ll be safer if you move into the dorms.”

“... Fine,” Sera said tersely. “I’ll move in. Just give me a day to get my things together.”

“We’ll begin to make accommodations,” Vaughn said. “Miss Elaine, you live alone, don’t you?”

Elaine’s face paled, her eyes growing wide. John watched onward with confusion. Elaine had never acted like this before around Sera. What had happened between them?

“Yes Sir, I do,” Elaine mumbled to herself. “The other room has been empty ever since I moved in during freshman year.”

“Perfect,” Vaughn said. “Seraphina will move in there then. I trust you two will keep each other safe.”

“For now, I ask all four of your keep this event to yourselves for now. There is no need to worry other students with what had happened,” Vaughn finished. “If that is all, all four of you are free to leave.”

Everyone got up from their seats, loud scrapes filling the air as they pushed them in. As soon as the door shut, John slumped.

“To think this all started because I wanted a drink,” he sighed. “I’m ready for all this to be over.”

Sera lightly shoved him. “Well, at least you can move back in to your dorm now.”

“Guess you’re right,” John said. “We’d better be heading back, right?”

Sera hesitated. She dug inside the pocket of her shorts, tossing a key at him. “You go on ahead of me. I need to run a couple errands first. Hide it in its usual place when you’re done.”

“Got it,” John said, giving her a wave. “See you later!”

He walked off. As soon as he disappeared down the stairs, Sera turned to Arlo and Elaine, smile slipping off her face.

“We have to talk,” she said.

* * *

Returning to the dorms after so long was odd.

John adjusted the strap of his duffel bag, entering his dorm. Faint noises came from Blyke’s room as John passed by, unlocking his own door. Tossing the duffel bag on his bed, John turned back to Blyke’s door, intending to speak to him.

Sure, their last conversation had been less than pretty, but after everything that had happened in the last month, it seemed rather inconsequential now. John knocked on the door, and Blyke opened it, video game controller in hand.

“John!” Blyke greeted. “It’s great to see you again, bro!”

He lowered his controller, scratching his head. “And uh... I’m really sorry for the whole suspension thing. I didn’t think it’d be for a month.”

“Don’t worry about Blyke,” John laughed. “It’s long in the past now. How were things while I was gone?”

“Same as always,” Blyke said. He paused. “Well uh, apart from one thing. Remi, Isen and I got arrested.”

John dropped his bag to the ground, raising an eyebrow. What had the three of them done now? “Really? What for?”

“You know the ability testing booth at the mall?” Blyke probed.

“Yeah, what about it?” John said, thinking back to back before the whole suspension incident. “I got a stuffed bear from them for being a high tier.”

Blyke’s expression instantly shifted from placid to horrified. He got to his feet.

“John, where is that bear?” he said shortly.

“What?” John said, confused. “In my room, why?”

Blyke shoved past him, heading for John’s room.

“Blyke!? What’re you doing!?” John shouted, running after him.

By the time he entered, Blyke had already grabbed the bear off of John’s shelf, tearing through the stitching at the back. The panicked expression on his face worried John.

“Blyke, what’s going on!?” John said.

“Remi got tested at that booth too,” Blyke said, digging through the cheap white stuffing. “Remember how her passive is detecting circuitry? Well, she sensed this when she got her bear.”

John’s stomach dropped as Blyke pulled out a small, shiny device from inside the bear. Even though he wasn’t well versed in circuitry, he could tell it what it was.

“Is... Is that a tracker?” he said numbly.

“Yep,” Blyke said. He dropped the tracker to the ground, crushing it under his foot. “We tried chasing after the booth guy, but we ended up being the ones apprehended.”

John’s mind started moving a mile a minute. Things finally fell into place.

_The vendor was giving out those to exclusively high tiers to track them._

_I brought that bear to Sera’s house first, before bringing to my dorm. They tracking me the entire time. That must’ve been how they found me in the first._

John remembered the invisible man who stalked them, and a shudder ran down his spine.

_He was likely with them too. How deep does thing go?_

“Of course,” he muttered to himself. “Why didn’t I notice it before? That was how...”

Realizing Blyke was still standing there, torn teddy bear in hand, John jolted into action, shaking his head.

“Thanks for telling me, Blyke,” he said. “I should go inform Vaughn about this.”

“John, is everything alright?” Blyke said, concerned. “Did something happen during your suspension?”

“I can’t tell you,” John said. “I promise once everything gets figured out, I’ll tell you everything, but right now, I really need to go.”

He ran out of his room, pulling his cracked phone out of his pocket. He quickly dialed Sera’s number.

“John, what is it?” Sera said once she picked.

“Remember that level reader guy from Kovoro Mall?” John said. “The one who ran the stand?”

“Yeah?” Sera said. “You got that bear from him.”

“Blyke found a tracker inside it,” John blurted.

“What?” Sera said.

“Apparently, he, Remi and Isen went to the same booth a week or two ago,” John explained. “Remi’s passive allows her to detect circuitry, so when she got the bear, she sensed the tracker. It ended with them chasing the guy across the mall, before they ended up arrested.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” John said breathlessly. “Sera, the tracker. I took it to your house before, remember? That was how they knew where to go. They knew that if I wasn’t at the dorms, I would’ve been at your place.”

“That was their best shot at getting you,” Sera realized. “They wouldn’t have been able to get past Keene’s defenses.”

“Exactly,” John replied. He was about to say more, when his phone chimed again. “Shit. I’ve got to go. I’m getting another call. We’ll talk more later.”

“Got it.”

John ended the call and entered the new one. “Dad?”

“Hey John,” William said, sounding far more serious than John had ever heard him before. “There’s something important I need to tell you- I’ve been trying to call you all day.”

John winced. He’d accidentally left his phone at Sera’s house and hadn’t been able to pick it until after the talk with Vaughn. “Sorry. Something big happened, and I misplaced my phone.”

“It’s fine,” William said. “Yesterday morning, the authorities came, asking for you.”

“... What?” John said.

“They wanted to ask you some questions about Unordinary,” William said. He chuckled. “Let’s just they weren’t too pleased when they figured out I was the author.”

“Did everything turn out okay?” John said, worried.

“They left me alone after I explained everything,” William replied. “However, they’re still intent on asking you some questions. Expect them to head to Wellston soon.”

John bit his lip. “Okay. Got it. Thanks for telling me, Dad. I appreciate it.”

“Was everything alright at Sera’s house?”

“Oh yeah, it was perfect!” John lied. “Just moved back into my dorm today.”

_Dad doesn’t need to know about the kidnapping thing. The last thing I want to do is worry him over something like that. I’m all safe now._

_In the meantime, I need to head to Vaughn._

* * *

Sera looked disinterestedly at the dorms, pulling her suitcases behind her. It hadn’t taken long to gather her meager belongings, as most of what was in her house was already there when she moved in. She stood by the entrance, waiting. She’d been told that a guide was coming but-

“There you are!”

A familiar pink-haired girl came bounding up, sign in hand. Remi gave her a bright smile. “Keene was busy, so he asked me to show around.”

_... Great._

“That’s right,” Sera said. “I was living off campus for a while, but I decided to finally make the move.”

“We’re glad to have you!” Remi said. “Keene usually sets up alarms and such for any intruders, so it’s arguably the safest place for students.”

_I doubt that. On the contrary, I’ll likely get beaten up even more._

“That’s nice,” Sera said instead of voicing her actual thoughts. “You’re the Queen of Wellston, aren’t you? Awfully kind of you to show someone like me around.”

“What do you mean?” Remi said, tilting her head.

_Wait... Does she not know?_

“I’m a cripple.” Sera enunciated.

“I know that,” Remi said. “Why does that matter?”

_What? Is she that oblivious to all the fights around the school? Even Elaine knows I get tossed around regularly for my status._

“It’s nothing,” Sera said, shaking her head. “Continue on with the tour.”

Remi showed her around the dorms, explaining where Sera lived (“I’m staying on floor above!” she hummed), to where she could find everything to she needed, to when curfew when (“Eleven p.m. sharp. Though, it’s not that hard to sneak out.”). Sera wasn’t paying too much attention, instead thinking.

Remi’s vivacious attitude was unlike any other high-tier she had met before. Compared to John’s more laid-back attitude, Arlo’s sternness, and even the people she’d known back in New Bostin, Remi was an irregularity Sera had never encountered before. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Before Sera knew it, she was at the end of the tour, standing in front of the dorm building. Remi spun around, smiling at her. “And there we go!”

“Thank you for showing me around.” Sera said. She paused. “And... Sorry about a couple weeks ago.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Remi said. “Everyone goes through a rough patch now and then.”

_I’ve been in a rough patch for the last few years of my life._

“… Yeah.” Sera said.

* * *

John swung open the door to the school, adjusting his black tie as he did so. After spending a month out of uniform, it was difficult to return to starched shirts and ties.

“Oh my gosh, John is finally back!”

“What did he even get in trouble for?”

“Who knows! It must’ve been pretty bad if they suspended him for a month!”

John glanced at the couple of the onlookers, seeing newspapers clutched in their hands. The headline read something about his return from suspension.

_How do they even get those things out that fast? Is there really nothing better to gossip about?_

Inwardly sighing, John just reminded himself that everything would come to pass. All he had to do was bide his time, and another round of drama would sweep up the Press Team’s attention soon enough.

_Just make to lunch John. It’ll be old news by then._

* * *

Sera sat on the rooftop, eating her lunch. John joined her soon after, carrying his tray. For someone who had a month off, he looked remarkably tired.

“So, how’s your first day back going?” Sera asked. “I heard there was a quite a fuss.”

“The usual,” John grumbled, waving his hand. “I don’t really want to talk about it. How was your first day at the dorms?”

“Alright,” Sera said. “Just got acquainted with my surroundings.”

“How was Elaine?” John asked.

“She’s just...” Sera began. “Weird. Keeps on approaching me, trying to make conversation. I’m still not over the time she humiliated me on the first day of school, just because I was a cripple.”

“Elaine’s like that,” John said. “She’s always been timid around me, though. As long you’re more powerful than her, she backs off.”

“Makes sense,” Sera muttered. “She fawns all over people who are stronger than her. Especially Arlo.”

“I personally think she’s just scared,” John said, shrugging. “Elaine’s just barely an elite-tier. For most of first and second year, she was mid-tier, before finally becoming an Elite thanks to the training she did at Turf Wars.”

“I imagine she didn’t get a lot of practice though,” Sera muttered. “Back then, you pretty much destroyed everyone, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” John said, smile dimming slightly. “For the longest time, I didn’t even let her heal me. I just copied her ability instead.”

He shook his head. “Come to think of it though, I haven’t heard any news about Turf Wars in a while. Wonder what happened to that.”

“Maybe Wellston ran out of opponents to beat.”

“Maybe.”

Both of them laughed, John felt himself slipping back into the familiarity of life at Wellston. That month of suspension was behind them now. They could move on.

There was nothing to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, I'm back!
> 
> Fun fact for this chapter: it was intended to have another passage, but it got cut because I couldn't make it work out the way I wanted to. It was inconsequential in the long run, so I could afford it. I also had a bit of trouble revising, mostly because I am notorious for saving things for the last moment. Other than that though, I'm happy with how it turned out.
> 
> For good news, I only have 5-6 more chapters to finish before all of Retribution is drafted! Of course, they'll need to be cleaned up, but I'm in a decent place right now. Which is good, because not only do I have exams coming up, but I'm also giving Nanowrimo a try this year.
> 
> Great thanks to everyone supporting this fic, whether it be comment, kudoes or bookmarks! I know I say this a lot, but I really appreciate the support everyone gives me.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	5. Saviour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John saves a low tier from trouble. Sera and Zeke wind up in an altercation, where an unexpected saviour steps in.

After he finished his lunch with Sera, John headed down the hallway, intending on making it to class earlier than usual so he could ask some questions. When he reached the stairwell however, he found it packed full of students, all grumbling at something in front of them.

“What’s going on?” he said.

“Some low-tier is blocking the stairwell again,” someone answered, annoyed. “She’s getting the shit beat out of her by a mid-tier. Wish Brea would just finish already so we can get to class.”

_What?_

John shoved past the students. Once they saw who it was shoving them, the crowd parted, allowing John to reach the front.

Brea was towering over another girl at the top of the stairwell, eyes glowing and hands raised. The other girl, a low-tier, cowered. Her binder laid on the ground, papers spilled about, smoking holes bored through them.

“You complete idiot!” Brea shouted. “All you had to do was one measly job, and you failed at it!”

The other girl shrunk back, turning on her heel, preparing to walk off, binder forgotten. Brea sneered, giving her a harsh shove. The girl fell, tumbling down the stairs. She landed in a heap on the ground, her ankle twisting. John’s fists tightened.

“Brea.” he admonished, walking up to her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Immediately, Brea’s demeanor shifted. Her smug expression gave way to one of innocence. “What’re you talking about? Evie wasn’t doing her job, so I had to teach her a lesson.”

“What lesson involves shoving her down the stairs!?” John said. “There’s no need to get aggressive about it. And why does she have to do your homework?”

Brea faltered, not expecting that answer. “She’s a low-tier, is she not? They’re made to help us higher tiers.”

“No, they aren’t,” John said, teeth gritted. “Stop wasting everyone’s time and get to class.”

With that, he dropped her arm, walking down the stairs. Nearby students erupted into whispers, but John ignored them. 

“Are you okay?” he said. “It’s Evie, right?”

Evie’s eyes went wide, and she hopped to her feet, wincing at her sprained ankle. “Y-you’re John! I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!”

“You’re hurt,” John protested, offering her an arm. “Here. Let me take you to the infirmary.”

Evie looked starstruck. “Okay!”

John could practically feel Brea seething with anger as he helped Evie get back to her feet. “You...! You’re supposed to look out for the rest of us! Not associate with filth like her!”

“John!” Evie shouted. 

Before John could react, Evie shoved him. A green bolt struck her shoulder, creating a smoking hole in her blazer. John turned. Brea seemed just as shocked as he did, the glow in her fearful eyes fading. Anger flared in John.

_How dare she!_

John raised an arm, leveling it towards Brea. A black bolt pierced her arm, and Brea screamed. She grabbed her arm, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at John in fear. Carefully looping Evie’s arm around his shoulder, he glared up at the crowd of students.

“Is this all what you get up to while I’m gone?” he said. “Pathetic.”

He shook his head. “Show’s over. Head to your classes.”

The crowd dispersed, students finally filtered down the stairs alongside them. John helped Evie walk down the stairs, and through the hallways down to Doc’s office.

“Does this happen a lot?” John finally said.

“Yes,” Evie said. “Brea was mad because I didn’t complete her homework on time, this morning. Maybe I should just take a page out of Roland’s book and show up to class ten minutes late every morning to avoid them...”

“Why doesn’t anyone stop it?” John said.

“Well, we’re low tiers,” Evie said. “All I can do is make my hands glow. We don’t have much in means of defense.”

Her eyes widened. “You Royals don’t have to worry, though! I’m sure that you’re busy all the time with Royal Things.”

John looked down. On the contrary, he had plenty of free time. He’d never stepped in before, unless it was to help Sera. A single thought floated through his mind.

_Was I blind to all of this, or did I just willingly ignore it?_

“Evie, if anything like this happens to you and your friends, tell me,” John said. “I’ll put a stop to it.”

“You don’t have to do that!” Evie said, frantically waving her hands. “It’s fine, really! We’re used to it.”

Her cheeks flushed bright red, and she quickly averted her gaze, looking down at her shoes. John grew even more worried.

_Is this the first time any of us has ever acknowledged her existence? She’s far too flustered by this._

They finally reached the infirmary. Doc was drinking his afternoon coffee, and he tipped his mug to Evie when she came in. It seemed that this was a usual occurrence for him.

“I’ll get some tonics ready,” he sighed. “Your friend is here too.”

“Really!?” Evie said.

“Yep.” came a disgruntled voice from behind one of the nearby curtain. 

The voice pulled it aside, revealing a blue-haired boy. His arms were covered in bandages, and John could see that the left side of his face was blistered. The ashy remains of his blazer sat next to him, covered in burn marks.

“What happened, Roland?” Evie said, half-running, half-hopping towards him.

“I got caught on the way to class by Erin,” Roland sighed. “Maybe I should head class twenty minutes late from now on...”

He finally noticed John, and fear rippled across his face. He curled in on himself protectively, holding his damaged arms.

“... Hey,” John said hesitantly. “I’m John.”

“He saved me, Roland!” Evie said cheerfully. “He stopped Brea in her tracks, then went through all the trouble helping me reach the infirmary!”

“It wasn’t any trouble,” John protested. “Seriously, if anything like this happens to either of you again, come and tell me. Same goes for your friends.”

Evie nodded excitedly, while Roland looked far more cautious. He picked at his bandages, staring at John.

“Why are you doing this just now?” he said.

“Being suspended for a month gave me a new perspective on things,” John said. “I’m going to use ability to help others now.”

Roland broke his stare, expression unreadable. “... How interesting.”

Sensing tension in the air, Evie quickly changed the topic. “Jeez, though. Brea had to destroy my binder again! At least I copied all my notes before.”

“How many copies do you have?” Roland said.

“Three.” Evie replied. “Well, now two.”

“And when do you find time to do this?” Roland deadpanned.

“Sunday nights. I can loan you some if the same happens to you!” Evie replied brightly.

“I’ll have to take you up on that,” Roland sighed. “Knowing Erin, she’d probably burn mine if she had the chance.”

John watched Roland and Evie casually converse, talking about different subjects. Eventually, Doc came by with some tonics, handing one to Evie. He nodded to John.

“You should probably be getting to class,” he said.

“Right,” John said, getting to feet. “See you next time.”

As he walked away, he shot one more wayward glance at Evie and Roland, before shutting the door to the infirmary behind him. 

_They talk about copying notes dozens of times over like the most normal thing in the world. Roland heads to classes ten minutes late to avoid attacks. Evie keeps off of main paths. How didn’t I notice that before?_

__

__

_**Because it didn’t concern you before.** _

John stopped in the hallway. The nasty thought festered in his mind, made worse by the fact that it was true.

_Well, it concerns me now._

* * *

Sera walked through the courtyard of the girl’s dorms, intending on heading straight to her room, and locking herself in there for the rest of the night. The less interactions she had with the others, the better.

“There you are!”

Sera spun. Behind her was a boy her age, with bright blue hair brushing his shoulders. His green eyes glinted, a wide smile spreading across his face. Sera recognized him as Zeke, one of the elite tiers at school.

“I heard that someone new had moved into the dorms,” he said. “I don’t normally make excursions out to the girls’ dorms, but when I heard that it was the cripple, I had to see for myself.”

“Well, you’ve seen me,” Sera replied. “You can take your leave. I have work to do.”

“Oh, I don't think so!” Zeke said. “I have a couple things to discuss with you!”

He dove for Sera, swinging his leg into her gut. Sera fell back, clutching her stomach as she coughed.

_What the hell? He’s so fast!_

Zeke appeared in front of her once more, grabbing her by her ribbon. “You’ve had me irritated for a long time. Running around the school, causing havoc.”

His expression soured, grip growing tighter. “What’s more, you’ve gotten John tangled up in our business. Everyone is sick of your shit, Seraphina.”

Zeke grabbed her jaw, and Seraphina made her move. She swung her leg upwards, hitting him in the groin. Zeke’s iron-clad grip loosened, and he shrieked. Sera took the opening to swing a fist at his jaw.

“You bitch!” Zeke shouted. “When I-“

Sera tossed her bag at his face, before turning on her heel and running off.

_I just need to make it to my dorm, then I can-_

Sera slammed into something hard, and Sera looked up to see Zeke. A trail of blood dripped from his mouth, and his eyes were murderous. He punched her in the stomach, glowing with a blue aura. Sera dropped to her knees, gasping.

“I was only going to teach you a little lesson,” Zeke said, rolling up his sleeve. “Looks like you have a lot to learn.”

He raised his fist, about to knock her unconscious-

There was a flash of bright red, and suddenly Zeke was on the ground, three large gashes tearing his back. Meili towered over him, clawed hands poised to attack.

“Thought’d you make another excursion to the girl’s dorms?” Meili sneered. “Last I checked, you were banned from visiting.”

“I wanted to give Seraphina here a warm welcome to the dorms,” Zeke said defensively, getting to his feet. “Where’s the issue in that, Meili?”

“Listen Zeke, you might be the ‘King of the Boys Dorms’ or whatever the hell you call yourself, but you have no business here. I’ll be reporting you to Keene if you don’t leave this instant.” Meili replied frostily.

“Okay, okay, I’ll leave!” Zeke said. He muttered. “No need to get all bitchy about it. First John, then you ruining my fun.”

He shoved past her, tacking on one last sentence. “You’re lucky you have Arlo on your good side, or else you’d be lying on the ground like that cripple.”

“Try me,” Meili said testily. “I’ve improved since our last altercation.”

Zeke shoved his hands into his blazer, shaking his head as he stomped off. Meili sighed.

“Oh, to be powerful enough to shove him off his high horse,” Meili muttered. “If Ventus were here, I would’ve smashed that creep to bits without hesitation.”

She turned to Sera. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Sera said coldly, getting to her feet. “I just would like to head back to my dorms.”

“I can call Elaine to heal you,” Meili offered. “The infirmary is shut up for the day but-“

“That won’t be necessary,” Sera replied. “She’s my roommate. I’ll just ask her myself.”

“Oh,” Meili said awkwardly, looking away. “Just ignore Zeke. Now that he’s got his entertainment, he likely will just stick to the boys dorms from now on. He doesn’t come over here unless there some fresh meat.”

_Entertainment. I’m nothing more than a toy for him to play with, huh?_

__

__

The last time I even saw Meili, she ambushed me under Arlo’s command. Why should I even believe her?

_What is her motive?_

“Seraphina, are you alright?” Meili said.

“Perfectly fine,” Sera replied. “How are your hands healing up?”

Meili jolted, gaze darting to her hands. Sera saw that a couple of her fingers were decorated with thin scars, no doubt from the beating Sera gave her. Meili’s smile tightened.

“They’re back to normal,” she said. “Nothing Elaine couldn’t patch up.”

“That’s good,” Sera said slowly.

“It is,” Meili agreed. “I’ve already been informed by Arlo about what to do, if that what’s you’re worried about. As far as Ventus and I care, we simply got into an accident while training with each other.”

Sera didn’t answer, instead sweeping up her belongings. As she passed by Meili, the latter tensed, as if waiting for Sera to strike at any moment.

"So long as nothing gets out, I have no reason to attack you," Sera said. "I trust you and Ventus learned enough from last time."

Meili glared at her. Sera only smiled.

_What can you do against me?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And close!
> 
> Weekly fun fact: There was supposed to be one final part at the end, but as editing it, I realized that it really wouldn't have worked out timeline-wise, so uh, it had to axed. It'll likely show up sometime in the next few chapters, as it is plot-related.
> 
> As for updates, things should remain smooth for the next bit. I've got a busy week ahead of me, but the next chapter is already complete, so it should come out on schedule if everything goes well. 
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	6. Slip Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sera both get caught in some lies.

“John Doe, Keon and I will be asking you a series of questions. Please answer truthfully to avoid penalties.”

John shifted uncomfortably in his seat. While he’d seen it coming thanks to his father, it was still jarring to be yanked out of class for another interrogation.

What worried him this time was the man standing beside Nadia, Keon. While John was sure he could trick Nadia again, something about the Keon’s stern expression told him it’d hard to get anything past him.

“Keon, you may begin,” Nadia said.

“First question,” Keon said. “What did you do during your suspension?”

“I went back home to stay with my father,” John calmly stated. “I did my schoolwork and reflected on my choices. Let’s just say I don’t plan on reading anything illegal again, seeing how I was suspended for an entire month.”

“But you returned to Wellston a week early,” Keon said. “What’s your explanation for that?”

“I was sent home a week early by my father.” John replied.

“Your father,” Keon repeated. “When I came to check up on you, I was surprised to see the man who greeted me was none other than William Doe, the author of Unordinary.”

_... Damn it._

“That’s right. He wrote it.” John said.

“It surprised me he hadn’t been penalized for Unordinary’s publication,” Keon continued. “Especially considered the effect it had on society, one would think some kind of judgement would fall on him.”

“I guess so,” John replied. “To the best of my knowledge, he’s been a free man since it was published. Maybe he worked something out with the authorities? I’m unsure why he even wrote Unordinary.”

Keon stared at him for a long time. “I see. What’s interesting is that last time Nadia visited, you said that you didn’t receive the book from him. Who did you get it from?”

_Shit. How do I get out of this one?_

“As I said last time, I had a troubled relationship with my father,” John began.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Keon said tersely. “Who did you get the book from?”

_Tch. He’s being direct. I’ll have to dance around the question._

“I got it from a friend,” John said vaguely. “I disposed of the book soon after reading it.”

“What’s your friend’s name?” Keon said impatiently.

“I fail to see how that’s important to this discussion,” John said.

“I’ll be the one to decide that,” Keon sharply replied. “Now answer me. Who gave you Unordinary?”

“I stayed at her place during my suspension,” John said, trying to direct the conversation away from the topic at hand. “During my last week I was attac-“

Keon slammed his fists on the desk. John jumped.

“Enough!” Keon shouted. “I didn’t ask for what you did during your suspension! I asked for the name of your friend! What’re you trying to hide!?”

Vaughn’s cool tone cut through the air. “Mister Keon. That’s enough. You’re supposed to be a professional. I will not tolerate you shouting at my students.”

Keon stepped back, trying to regain his composure. “Right. My apologies, Headmaster.”

Vaughn didn’t answer, instead sliding his cool gaze to John. “It’s alright, John. You can inform Mister Keon who it was.”

“... My friend’s name is Seraphina.” John finally said. “She was against me reading the book. All of this is my fault.”

At the mention of Sera’s name, Keon’s eyes widened. John raised an eyebrow.

_Does he know her? But how?_

“Why were you keeping her name from me in the first place?” Keon said. “Does this friend have any connections to Unordinary? Has she read it? Have you discussed its contents?”

John clenched his jaw. “Like I said, this was all my fault. I didn’t want to get her involved.”

“You’re avoiding questions,” Nadia said. “That usually means you’re hiding something important.”

“Nothing happened!” John snapped.

“And that is a lie,” Nadia said, a hint of a smile curling on her lips.

_Shit!_

John looked away, trying to catch his breath. His hands were beginning to shake.

“Does your friend agree with Unordinary’s philosophy?” Keon said.

“It isn’t my place to speak for her.” John said.

“What about you?”

“I wondered what kind of insanity was running through my Dad’s head when he wrote it,” John said, wanting this interrogation to be over.

“You’re dodging the question,” Keon said. “I didn’t ask what you thought about. Do you agree with Unordinary’s philosophy or not?”

“I... I...” John began.

_I agree with it, but if I tell Keon that..._

“I asked a question, John,” Keon snapped. “I expect an answer.”

John suddenly found the ground looked very interesting. His stomach churned, trying to figure out a decent way to dodge the question.

_... Screw it. It’s not like I can mess this up much worse. You want the truth? Have it._

“I do think everyone deserves to be treated with equal respect,” John began.

John lifted his gaze, meeting Keon’s eyes. His voice grew louder. “In fact, I think my dad was on to something! While I have no intention of becoming a hero, I fully intend on using my powers to help others in this school!”

Keon’s eyes grew cold. “I see. What an interesting turn of events. I believe we’ve gotten what we’ve come for. You can take your leave, John. I’ll be discussing further punishment with the Headmaster.”

Returning Keon’s sharp look, John got to his feet, leaving the office. As his surge of anger wore off, John panicked.

_Oh shit, I really blew that one. Not only did I tell off Keon like that, they found out that Sera had Unordinary. If they interrogate her and find out she has a copy on her-!_

_I need to find her!_

* * *

Sera stared up at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. Running into a vengeful mid-tier had hardly been a fun way to start her afternoon, and Doc was insistent she stay in the infirmary until she healed.

_I really need to get a new phone. At least then I could get John to come down here._

The infirmary door slammed open with a bang. “Doc, is Sera here?”

_Speaking of which..._

“She’s behind the curtain, John,” Doc grumbled.

John brushed the curtain aside, giving her a wave. “There you are. I’ve been searching for you all over.”

“Just got into a bit of trouble again,” Sera said. “I heard they called you up to the office. Did Vaughn get any new information about what happened from the authorities?”

“What?” John said. He shook his head. “Oh, no. It wasn’t about that. I got called to the office for another interrogation.”

“Really?” Sera said. “All of that about a book?”

“It didn’t go well,” John said. “I completely flubbed it in every single way possible. Sera, I know this is going to sound bad, but you need to dispose of Unordinary, stat.”

“What?” Sera said. “Did they trace it back to me?”

“Yeah,” John said frantically. “They had this other interrogator this time. Some guy named Keon.”

_Keon?_

Sera stopped as a torrent of memories swept her up. John continued to speak, but Sera couldn’t hear what he was saying. Images of what had happened two years ago filled her mind.

_“Know your place, child! I’m a high-ranking government official! I won’t be tossed around by a power-hungry brat like you!”_

_“This is the aftermath of your little rampage. Why don’t we look at it?”_

_“If you’re so remorseless about what happened, why can’t you face your actions?”_

_“Did you finally realize your mistakes?”_

“Sera? Sera?”

John waved a hand in front of her face, and Sera realized she had zoned out.

“Do you and Keon know each other?” John asked, confused. “He acted pretty weird when I said your name.”

“We’re familiar,” Sera said. “My parents were close with the authorities.”

A half-truth- her parents knew a couple of high-ranking government officials, just not Keon.

_Tch... Why did he of all people have to be the interrogator?!_

“He was too good,” John said. “He made me confess that you had given me the book. Then uh... I kinda went off and said that I agreed with Unordinary’s ideals?”

“John,” Sera sighed, pressing the bridge of her nose with her good hand. “You know what? It’s fine. We’re fine. At worst, they’ll call me in for an interrogation, and I’ll tangle with them. In the meantime, I’m giving you Unordinary.”

“What?” John said.

“I’m not destroying another copy,” Sera said. “The first thing they’ll ask me is if I have one in my possession. I’ll just have you hold on to it until this whole thing blows over. Try not to get caught with it again?”

“Got it,” John said. “Meet you at the dorms after school?”

“I’ll have the book ready.” Sera said.

* * *

As soon as school ended, John quickly changed out of his uniform, instead tugging on a pair of cargo shorts and a grey sweater. He grabbed a bag to take with him, and some cash just in case.

John exited his room, giving Blyke a goodbye wave. “I’m heading out. I’ll probably be back in a couple hours.”

“Where are you going?” Blyke asked.

“I’m meeting with Sera,” John said.

Blyke’s expression instantly soured. “Oh.”

“What’s your deal with her?” John said. “You two seemed to get along well enough before.”

“Right, you were at suspension when it happened,” Blyke muttered. “While you were gone, Seraphina dropped a bunch of her papers in the middle of the hallway. Remi tried to help her clean them up, but Seraphina slapped her and told her to fuck off.”

“Really?” John said. “That doesn’t sound like Sera at all.”

“It happened,” Blyke said. “You can ask Seraphina herself. Let’s just say I don’t take kindly to people doing that to my best friend.”

He shook his head. “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. Why were you called to the office earlier? Did something happen again?”

“It was nothing.” John said quickly.

Blyke peered at him strangely. “John, you’ve been acting weird lately. Are you sure everything is fine?”

“It is,” John lied. “Like I said before, I’ll explain everything later, but right now I’ve really got to go.”

He gave Blyke a wave goodbye and ran out of the room.

* * *

Sera stood outside the girls’ dorm building, arms crossed. She patted the interior pocket of her pink coat, making sure that Unordinary was still there. Finally, John came running up.

“I’m here!” he said. He lowered his voice. “Do you have it?”

“Yes, I have it,” Sera said. “I’ll hand it over to you once we leave the dorms. Keene’s probably got cameras set up all over here.”

The two of them exited the school premises, and once they were far enough away from the cameras, John spoke.

“Feels like it’s been ages since we’ve done this,” he said.

“It’s because it has been ages,” Sera said. “The last time we did this was before they suspended you.”

“Oh yeah, I guess you’re right,” John muttered. “Crazy how fast time passes these days.

That reminds me though,” John said. “When I was talking to Blyke earlier, he mentioned an incident that happened while I was gone. Something that happened with Remi?”

“Oh, that,” Sera said, smile slipping off her face. “Don’t worry about it. I made a mistake, and Blyke nearly headshotted me for it.”

John stared at her.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sera added, “It was mostly on me. I mistook Remi for an old schoolmate and reacted instinctively.”

“Schoolmate?” John said, confused. “Weren’t you homeschooled?”

**_Fuck!_ **

“I was,” Sera lied smoothly. “We occasionally worked together on projects. Just because I was homeschooled doesn’t mean I worked alone.”

“Oh. Guess that makes sense.”

Sera closed her eyes, trying to calm her rapidly-beating heart.

_That was too close. I’ve got to watch what I say._

To change the subject, Sera pulled Unordinary out of her coat, handing to John. “Take care of it and be careful. If you get caught with this, we’re done for.”

“Duly noted,” John said, stuffing the book into his bag. “I’ll hide it in my mattress this time.”

“Just don’t get caught,” Sera said. She paused. “Or let anyone else know about it. If word gets out about this around school.”

“Things’ll get even messier than they already are,” John said, grimacing. “To think this all started because of this book in the first place...”

“It seems we’ve come to a full circle,” Sera agreed. “Let’s just not repeat the loop again.”

She shook her head. “Enough about that. The more we discuss it, the more likely someone will overhear us. Let’s get going. How does a trip downtown sound?”

“Sounds good!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And close!
> 
> I don't really have much to say this time, as this chapter went as planned for the most part, so nothing really changed ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. I suppose that's a good thing. See you all next week!
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	7. Disruptions in the Hierarchy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Arlo have a discussion. An exposé is dropped.

“Argh!”

Gavin crashed into the wall, clutching his arm. John stepped back, the black aura surrounding him dissipating as he turned to the blond mid-tier he saved. The blond boy inched back a few steps.

“Let’s get you to the infirmary,” John said. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Alden,” the boy stuttered.

Nodding to him, John turned, ready to head down. A growl came from behind him as Gavin scrambled to his feet. Blood dripped from his forehead, but he didn’t seem bothered by it.

“I’m not done yet, you bastard!” Gavin shouted, running for John.

John spun, blocking an attack from Gavin. He clenched his teeth, knowing that his arms would likely bruise later thanks to his carelessness.

_Dammit... I should have held onto his ability a little longer._

John activated his ability once more, ready to block another attack when a familiar yellow barrier sprung up in front of him. Alden looked ready to faint as Arlo stepped up.

“Well, what do we have here? Picking a fight with your superior?”

Gavin swallowed. The pressure in the air had grown unbearable with Arlo’s arrival, his presence stifling every other aura.

“It wasn’t him I was picking a fight with!” Gavin protested. He pointed to Alden. “That jerk forgot to-“

A barrier flickered around him, and Gavin stopped mid-sentence. Arlo held out a hand, crushing the barrier. Gavin was forced down onto his knees, bowing down to them. 

“Now you’re talking back to me,” Arlo said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Gavin spat, knowing what he had to do. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, spitting the words like they were poison.

“Now that’s much better.” Arlo smiled, dropping the barrier. Gavin quickly scrambled away.

“Well,” John began after a period of awkward silence. “Alden and I will be heading to the infirmary.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. I’d like to speak with you, John.” his eyes tilted to Alden. “Alone.”

_Great. What does he want to talk about now?_

Getting the hint, Alden let out an awkward laugh. “D-don’t worry about me, John. Thanks for the help.”

* * *

“You didn’t need to step in like that,” John said. “I had that under control.”

The two of them stood in an empty classroom, away from prying eyes. Arlo cast a glance to John’s arms.

“I doubt that,” Arlo said. “You’ve been getting sloppy.”

“So?” John said. “Is that all you came to tell me? If so, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“You’ve been protecting low-tiers lately, haven’t you?” Arlo said, more as a statement than a question. “Fighting mid-tiers and high-tiers as well.”

“You have an issue with that?” John said tersely. “I chose to use my ability to help others. You should try it. I think you’d find it enlightening.”

“John, this isn’t going to end well,” Arlo said. “What you’re doing is dangerous.”

“How?” John challenged. “I’m just saying it right now- the hierarchy has some pretty fucked up ideology.”

Arlo’s body grew tense.

_Ooh, I’m really pissing him off this time. This is bound to be fun._

“Let me tell you a story, John,” Arlo said. “About my predecessor, Rei.”

“Rei?”

“Rei attempted to restrict the amount of violence in school,” Arlo said, pacing around. “He made the strong be lenient, and the weak confident. In actuality, all he did was make the weak prideful, and the strong angered. Because of his immense power, all of us had to listen to him.”

Arlo’s eyes were icy as he glared at John. “Do you know what happened the moment he graduated?”

“What?” John said.

“Everything came crashing down,” Arlo said. “I was left to clean up the mess he made. You remember, don’t you? The school was in complete chaos for the first few months. None of the Royals agreed to listen to me.”

John remembered that. While he mostly focused on his own endeavors, Wellston was fairly hectic throughout the first few months. Moreso than he expected going in.

“All the high-ranks did whatever they wanted,” Arlo said. “They took out their pent-up anger onto the low-ranks who had no idea how to defend themselves. All it did was cause low-tiers to get severely injured.

I had to track down every single problem and tackle it individually,” Arlo finished. “I had to beat every single high-tier back into place. Of course, the moment I finished cleaning up that mess, you came prancing in and dethroned me.”

“I worked hard for that title!” John protested. “It took me months of training to do that!”

“And how did you grow that strong?” Arlo pressed. “You took advantage of Wellston’s divided state and used it as an opportunity to battle every single student that crossed you.”

John didn’t answer, and Arlo took that as affirmation.

“You can’t act like you’re innocent, when you were just as bad as some of those mid-tiers,” Arlo said. “Remember all those times you’d beat up people who’d annoyed you? You can’t tell me you haven’t laid hands on a low-tier before.”

“I’ve changed since then,” John said through clenched teeth. “And I’m trying to make up for it now.”

“The hierarchy exists for a reason,” Arlo said. “Certain rules can’t be changed. While Rei might’ve made the school better for low-tiers in the short run, all he did was cause them more strife. Do you see why you can’t go around doing whatever you please?”

“I understand that what Rei did might not have lasted,” John said. “But that was because there was no way around there to prolong it anymore. If someone like Rei had stepped up to the plate, then what would’ve happened?”

“They would’ve graduated, and this-!” Arlo gestured around him. “Would’ve happened anyway! Tell me, John, what will happen when you graduate next year? All those low-tiers you protected won’t have anyone to shield them anymore! They’ll be at the complete mercy of high-tiers!”

“Either way, they’re going to be attacked!” John said. “Your hierarchy or whatever might’ve made peace for the high-tiers, but low-tiers are still attacked every day!”

He pressed a finger into Arlo’s chest. “And people like you ignore because it doesn’t bother you! As long as the hierarchy is perfect for the Royals, who cares what happens to the peasants at the bottom?”

John shook his head in disgust, turning away from Arlo. “I’m done. Arlo, I’m making this perfectly clear for you- I don’t care what you think of me.

And don’t think I’ve forgotten what you pulled on Sera either,” he finished. “Whatever trust I had in you was gone the second you beat her up like that.”

“John, you-!”

“Goodbye.”

* * *

“What happened to you this time?”

Doc cast a glance at Sera, who stumbled through the front door of the infirmary.

“The usual,” Sera muttered, limping towards the cot. “Nothing to worry about.”

Doc sighed, setting his mug down. After setting her broken leg, he headed off to the back to make a tonic for her. 

“You got to be more careful,” he grumbled as he left.

Sera looked down at the cast on her leg.

_I tried to._

\----

_Sera grunted, holding her arm. Her blazer was singed with multiple holes, the exposed skin shiny pink with burns. Unable to properly block in time, Sera was sent crashing to the ground by a blast of green energy. Two mid-tiers loomed over her, expression tainted with disgust._

_“John’s been acting rather annoying lately, and I’ve got a feeling it’s because of you,” Brea sneered, kicking Sera to the ground. Beside her was Misa. “He’s been running around protecting filthy low-tiers like you.”_

_Her emerald eyes shone with hatred. “You’re not so special anymore, are you? You better watch your back.”_

_With that, Brea and Misa walked off, leaving Sera collapsed on the ground. Uncertainly, she stumbled to her feet, steadying herself by pressing her hand against the concrete walls. She ground her teeth, anger blooming in her veins._

_Why? Why do I continue to take shit from them? If I could just-!_

_No. Calm down. I can’t. I promised I wouldn’t._

\----

“Seraphina?”

Sera’s head shot up. Doc waved a hand in front of her face, a glass of blue tonic in his other hand. “Your tonic is ready.”

“... Thanks.” Sera muttered, taking the glass from him.

“Just try to be more careful, okay?” Doc muttered, shelving some tonics. “I was in the middle of doing something important.”

“Let me guess,” Sera said. “Texting Leilah?”

“Yeah, I-” Doc stopped mid-sentence. “When did I tell you her name?”

“Awhile ago,” Sera said nonchalantly. “Don’t you remember, Doc?”

Doc gave her a weird look. Inwardly, Sera snickered.

_Ah, it’s fun to mess with him. If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, it’s that._

* * *

A couple days later, John entered the school, ready for another lackluster day of school. Murmuring filled the halls as he walked past, and John saw all the students were holding newspapers. Inwardly, John sighed.

_Really? We’re doing this shit again?_

Passing by a small pack of mid-tiers, John caught a wisp of a conversation.

“You really think John's ability works like that?”

John stopped, casting a glance at one newspaper. Through the mid-tier’s clenched fingers, he saw the photo on the front page- one of him. Large, blocky letters displayed a tantalizing headline.

**The School Ace- An Exposé  
By Anonymous**

_… What the?_

John grabbed one of the newspapers, reading the front page.

**John Doe is our school Ace- a made-up title for a King who stepped down for unknown reasons. He can copy our very own abilities, but is he really anything of note when his ability is unactivated?**

**Through thorough examination, two things become obvious. First, John cannot copy an ability he cannot see. Therefore, abilities like precognition or mind-reading cannot be duplicated. Second, John can’t copy abilities if they aren’t activated. Meaning, save for his passive- which, from what I observed, merely works as a radar- he has no powers in the presence of others.**

**What should we do with this information?**

**As of late, John has been using his ability to fight mid-tiers and Elites. This is a stark contrast to his laid-back behaviour before his suspension.**

**Rumour has it that John was caught with a banned book. Normally, this would cause immediate expulsion, but because of his status as Ace, John avoided any consequences for his actions, save for a month-long suspension. Even then, he’s now gracing our halls like it never happened.**

John stopped reading after that, though it seemed the rest of the article described his relationship with Sera in great detail, before going onward to speculate the finer details of his ability.

_To have this much knowledge about me, someone would’ve had to be watching me closely for the last few months._

Suddenly, the hallway felt a lot more claustrophobic. John sent a sideways glance at all the students, all of whom were staring back at him.

_But who is it?_

* * *

“Arlo, what the hell is this?”

Sera slammed a newspaper down on the table. Arlo spun it around, reading the title. His eyes widened for a moment, before sharpening.

“It’s a newspaper,” he said dryly. “With quite an interesting top article.”

“Why didn’t you stop that article from being published?” Sera said.

“I don’t watch over the Press Team twenty-four-seven,” Arlo replied tersely. “There’s a head of the Press Team for a reason. That responsibility falls on Cecile.”

“Why aren’t you doing anything about it then?” Sera demanded. “Shouldn’t it at least bother you that John’s reputation is getting dragged through the mud?”

“I’m not John’s babysitter,” Arlo said through clenched teeth. “What happens to him doesn’t concern me. He had this one coming, angering students left and right across the school.”

“You better watch what you say,” Sera snapped. “Don’t forget, I’ve defeated you.”

That got a reaction out of Arlo. He threw the newspaper down. “You know what? I'm done. Regardless of whether or not you’ve defeated me, I’m still King. This is none of my concern.”

He turned, beginning to walk out of the room. Sera rushed forward. “Arlo-“

A golden barrier sprung up, and Sera almost crashed into it. Arlo sent one last glance back, eyes glowing.

“This no longer concerns me. John can fix it if it bothers him so much. Don’t forget that _he_ is the Ace.”

* * *

Cecile rifled through a stack of papers, looking at all the submitted articles she’d been given. The door opened, and Cecile glanced up, expecting to see John at the door. If she had to guess, he wouldn’t be too happy about the article she’d just dropped. Instead, a green-haired girl stood at the door, phone clutched tightly in her hands.

“Juni? What brings you here?”

Juni shuffled forwards. “I found something important out. I think you should listen to this, Cecile.”

She played muffled recording. It was difficult to hear the voices, but one was unmistakably Arlo. The video was pointed towards the ground, and there was the sound of Juni’s quiet footsteps as she tiptoed closer to the classroom. The camera jolted upwards, glimpsing long magenta hair.

Loud stomps filled the air, and Juni squeaked. She frantically ran off, tapping at her phone. The recording ended.

“Why would the King take the time to speak to Seraphina about anything?” Juni said. “She sounded angry at him, almost commanding.”

“Really.” Cecile said flatly. “There’s not much evidence we can use in this. Many students in this school have magenta hair, and the video you received was blurry.”

“But-!” Juni stuttered.

“While it’s an interesting proposition, there’s no evidence to back it up,” Cecile said. “I can’t even be entirely sure that is Seraphina. Plausible deniability. People could claim it’s Remi.”

“You remember Isen, don’t you!” Juni said desperately. “A couple weeks ago, he said he wanted to do an article on her, but he just dropped it! There’s got to be something he’s hiding!”

Juni was right. A memory from a couple weeks before floated into Cecile's mind."

_“Well, I’m off for an interview," Isen said, twirling a pen in his fingers. "Expect a rather interesting piece on the school cripple a couple weeks from now.”_

“How interesting,” Cecile said. “But there’s still no evidence. I’ll look into it, but don’t count on anything.”

Juni nodded quickly, leaving just as fast as she came. Cecile turned back to her laptop.

_Isen never got back to me about that article. He seemed to expect something big from that interview, yet it never came to fruition. Either things didn’t go as planned, or something scared him enough to scrap it._

__

__

_If Seraphina is hiding something, and she has a distaste for Arlo, this could be my foothold back into the Royals._

The door clicked open again, and this John came, arms crossed. Cecile tensed.

“It’s been a long time, Cecile,” John said. “Care to tell me who wrote that article on me?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” Cecile said. “Confidentially clause.”

“For someone to have that much information on me, they’d have to have tailed me for months, or been close to me,” John said. “I’m more inclined to the former, and I'd like to know who it is.”

“The Press Team is dedicated to spreading free speech,” Cecile said. “I can’t stop the flow of that. There’s a reason the person wanted to remain anonymous, and I think we both know why.”

John went silent at that. Cecile chewed the inside of her cheek, seeing how’d he react. Finally, John sighed, tugging his fingers through his hair.

“Fair enough,” he sighed. “Why did you accept that article?”

“I thought it was interesting,” Cecile said. “You’ve changed exponentially ever since you began friends with that cripple.”

_A year ago, I would’ve already been on the ground bleeding if I’d allowed the publication of an article like this. You would’ve forced the answer out of me by now._

“Don’t call Sera that,” John said tersely. “She has a name.”

“Whatever,” Cecile said. “If you have nothing else to say, you’re free to leave.”

Once John left, shutting the door behind him, Cecile sighed, sitting back down in her chair. She glanced at the article.

_Sometimes, you’re far more trouble than you’re worth, Terrance._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back!
> 
> My apologies for being late in updating. This chapter wasn't fully edited, and I got my wisdom teeth removed on the 20th, so I was out for that entire weekend. As a bit of trivia, this and the next chapter were switched, hence why it came out a bit late. My weird attempt to fix a couple timeline issues and such. Plus, I think it works better this way. If everything goes well, the next chapter will update on Sunday.
> 
> So anyways, Cecile finally joins the party! I really like her, so I'm glad I can finally start writing about her now. How do you guys feel about her? I'm curious.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	8. Comparing Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John finds out a secret. The possibility of power amplifiers and dampeners are discussed.

John awoke to a series of loud bangs on his bedroom door.

Rubbing some sleep from his eyes, John stumbled out of bed, swinging his door open. Blyke stood in the doorframe, covered in dirt and scrapes.

“Blyke? What happened?” John said.

“I need your help,” Blyke said. “Remi’s hurt. Badly.”

“What?” John repeated, confused.

“Just- Please, come.” Blyke said, desperate.

Worried, John could only nod.

* * *

When they reached Remi’s dorm, Blyke turned to John.

“Whatever happens in this room stays in this room, okay?” he said.

He swung open the door, and John gasped.

Remi was lying on her bed, unconscious. Dressed in burgundy pants and the tattered remains of a black hoodie, her entire right arm was badly burnt, the other covered in bloody scratches. Blood stained the side of her torso, leaking out of a hasty bandage job. Elaine was already there, berating Isen.

“What is going on with you three!” she snapped. “This is even worse than last time!”

Isen looked away.

“We ran into some trouble,” he said. “Can you two just help us?”

“Of course I’ll help you,” Elaine muttered. “But I’m probably not going to be able to heal all of this in one night. Remi’ll need to take it easy these next few days.”

Her eyes glowed, and she worked on Remi’s side. John took a seat next to her, beginning to work on Remi’s burnt arm.

John looked at Remi’s clothes, then at the chart on the wall. Red string and pictures covered the chart, which was filled with copious notes on Remi’s deductions. Combined with the printed-out news reports covering mid-tiers wreaking havoc on smaller towns, it wasn’t hard to realize what was going on.

“You three became vigilantes.” John stated. He pressed a hand to his forehead. “Blyke, you saw Unordinary on my bed, right? You didn’t _read_ it, did you?”

“What!? No!” Blyke sputtered. “I only read the back, saw that it was pumping out vigilantes, and made my decision!”

“Ironic,” John quipped. “Seeing that you three ended up doing this. And here everyone thought _I_ was the one becoming a vigilante.”

If possible, Blyke only looked more guilty. “Technically, only Remi became one. Isen and I helped her out from the sidelines. Remi doesn’t even know Unordinary exists.”

“Then why did you three do this?” John said bluntly.

Isen sighed, tugging a hand through his orange locks. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“Okayyy...” Isen sighed. “So basically, Remi’s brother was a vigilante, and he got killed a couple months ago.”

“Oh.” John said. Of all things, he wasn’t expecting that.

“Remi’s been investigating his death for the last bit and well...” Isen bit his lip. “We made some dumb decisions.”

“And Remi ended up like that.” John said, nodding to the bed.

“Yeah,” Blyke said. “Elaine, how’s the healing going?”

“I’m done with her side,” Elaine said, scooting over to sit next to John. “I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to heal all her arm in one go.”

“I could call Doc to help,” John offered.

“No.” said all the others at the same time.

“Why?” John said.

“We’re not getting anyone else involved in this mess,” Blyke said, crossing his arms. “We started it, so now we have to clean it up. Besides, it’s the middle of the night, this room is crowded enough as is.

“Also,” Isen added, shivering. “Doc would kill us.”

_Fair point._

Remi groaned, and everyone swiveled their heads to her, argument forgotten. Remi jolted up, grunting as she jostled her burnt arm.

“Remi!” Blyke shouted. “You’re finally awake!”

“Where’s Volcan!” Remi demanded. “Did we get her?”

“Volcan...?” Elaine said. “Is that the person you were fighting?”

“Remi, she got away,” Isen said. “We had to retreat.”

“Why did you do that!?” Remi said. “We could’ve taken her down, captured her, and finally gotten some answers!”

“Remi, after you got stabbed, our safest option was to run,” Blyke said.

“She was our only lead!” Remi protested. “What are we supposed to do now!?”

“Remi, look at yourself,” John said. “Your entire right arm is burnt to a crisp. If they hadn’t gotten you to Elaine as soon as they did, you would’ve ended up in the hospital.”

“John...?” Remi muttered. “What’re you doing here?”

“You’re banged up pretty badly,” John said. “Blyke brought me here to help.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Remi said. “I was just looking for some information myself. Isen, did you get the footage of Volcan?”

“I... I didn’t get anything after she stabbed Alana.” Isen said. “I freaked out.”

Elaine squeaked, and John grew confused. It was obvious that Isen and Blyke had purposefully left parts of the story out.

_Stabbed? Just who is Volcan? If she were powerful enough to overpower a high tier and two elites..._

“Don’t we have everything from before that though?” Remi said. “That’ll have to do. We can use that to study her and defeat her next time. Maybe we can even get our hands on those power-enhancing drugs and see what they’re made of.”

“Remi, there isn’t going to be a next time.” Isen said.

“What do you mean?!” Remi yelled.

“It’s growing too much to handle,” Isen replied. “This whole thing is already falling apart at the seams. If word of this gets out anyone, what do you think will happen?”

“I...” Remi paused. “That doesn’t matter. I need to know, Isen.”

“What do you need to know?!” Isen pressed, growing frustrated. “We know that Rei became a vigilante and got himself killed by EMBER because of it!”

_Rei? Wasn’t that the former King?_

“We found EMBER!” Remi yelled. “We’ve gotten so close! We can’t just back out now!”

“Someone died tonight, Remi!” Isen shouted back. “Volcan killed her right in front of your eyes, and you still want to keep on going?”

Elaine got to her feet. “Both of you, please calm down! You’re going to wake everyone else up!”

“Shut up, Elaine!” Isen shouted. “I’m not done yet! You know what would’ve happened if Blyke’s aim had been a little worse there! If I hadn’t been fast enough to drag you out of danger!? We’d all be fucking dead!”

Blyke grabbed Isen’s shoulder. “Calm down, Isen. We’re all still running off of adrenaline from the incident.”

He turned to Remi. “Remi, I agree with Isen. This rabbit hole is going far deeper than any of us expected. We’re all a bunch of third-years. What can we do against an organization like EMBER?”

“We can fight them!” Remi insisted, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. “Rei once told me that no matter what, the powerful should to use their abilities to help others! If we continue to stand around doing nothing, EMBER will kill more heroes like him!”

“Remi-!” Isen growled.

Elaine stood abruptly, grabbing John’s arm. “We’ve done all we can. Visit me again tomorrow, Remi.”

Elaine pulled John out of the room, slamming the door behind her. As soon as she did, the shouting resumed. Elaine sighed.

“All of this is one big mess,” she mumbled to herself. “What should we do?”

“I’m not sure,” John admitted. “I mean, we should probably keep it to ourselves. Arlo would probably murder those three if he found out what they were doing.”

“He likely already knows,” Elaine said, twisting a strand of blue hair around her finger. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to heal them after a mission, and...”

“And you snitched to Arlo,” John said.

Looking guilty, Elaine nodded. “It wasn’t as bad last time. I didn’t know that Remi was seriously going after EMBER.”

She rubbed her arms, gaze growing distant. “I had no idea Rei’s death affected her so much.”

“Same here,” John said. “To think that Rei became a vigilante himself...”

Truthfully, John never knew Rei that well. He’d met him a couple times in second year, back when Rei made occasional visits to Wellston, but apart from that, he knew little of Rei, apart from what Arlo had told him.

“I’ve been thinking,” Elaine said. “You said that when you were attacked before, the people tried to inject you with something. Do you think they’re from EMBER?”

“Maybe,” John said. He sighed. “This all getting way too messy. Maybe I’ll compare notes with Remi once she’s recovered. Until then, we should just be getting back to bed.”

* * *

“You look terrible.” Sera quipped.

John sat down next to Sera on the rooftop. He gave her a look, his eyes ringed with dark circles.

“The last time I saw you looking that tired, you were King,” Sera said.

“Hilarious,” John said. “I barely got any sleep last night.”

“Why?” Sera said.

John hesitated.

“You can tell me,” Sera prodded. “Not like I can tell anyone else.”

“Last night, Blyke came banging on my door,” John said. “Remi got hurt, and they wanted me to help heal her.”

“How did she get hurt?” Sera said. “Isn’t she a high-tier?”

“She became a vigilante,” John finally said. “From what I could gather, she ended up running into EMBER.”

Sera blinked.

_Okay, then. Any other bombshells you’d like to drop?_

“Does she have a death wish?” Sera said.

“I’m not entirely sure,” John said. “Isen seemed pretty pissed off though. I don’t think they’ll be doing anything like that ever again.

The interesting thing though is that Remi said something about a power-enhancing drug,” John said. “It got me thinking back to that incident with the mid-tiers, you know? They tried to inject me with something.”

“I doubt it was that power-enhancing drug,” Sera said. “If such a thing even exists. Why would they inject a god-tier with something like that? That’s asking for a rampage.”

“I know, I know,” John added hastily. “But what if they were connected somehow? They both wanted to use some kind of drug. And Arlo, Elaine and I’s abilities were far weaker than usual during the fight.”

“You’re reaching,” Sera said. “We still know nothing about either case. Did the authorities ever get back to you on what happened?”

“No,” John admitted. “I figured they were busy on other cases. Nothing really happened to me, so I thought they placed it on the back-burner for a bit.”

“I’d hardly call nearly getting kidnapped nothing,” Sera replied. She tapped her chin. “Maybe we should’ve let you get captured. Then we might’ve had some actual info.”

“Sera!”

“I was joking,” Sera said. “Relax. Why don’t you just ask Remi what happened? She’ll probably be happy to share any information about what happened if it meant getting a lead.”

“Good point,” John mused. “I should do that.”

* * *

Sera looked down at the landline for the dorms, wondering if this was the right decision. John was likely in the library already, discussing with Remi what had happened. Their conversation from lunch still stuck in her mind.

_If there are ability amplifiers and dampeners floating around Wellston, there's one person who'd know more about them than any of us_

Shoving down her indecision, Sera grabbed the phone, typing in Leilah’s number. After a couple rings, Leilah picked up.

“Hello?”

“It’s Sera,” Sera said. “I’m calling from the dorm landline.”

“Oh!” Leilah’s voice grew considerably warmer. “How are you?”

“Good. I was just wondering something,” Sera said. “ZetaSci researches abilities, right?”

“That’s right. We mostly study how they work, and applications for them. And a couple trinkets here and there. Why do you ask?”

“Something happened,” Sera said. “A week or two ago, a bunch of masked raiders attacked John and I. They used some kind of... thing, that weakened John’s ability.”

There was a small crash.

“Leilah?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Leilah assured. “I just knocked something over. Is John’s ability still weakened?”

“No,” Sera said. “It was a temporary thing, but it made him lose his passive for a short while. Due to that, I’m guessing it has enough strength to lower a god-tier to elite.”

“How powerful were the raiders?”

“Around mid-tier,” Sera said. “They couldn’t be anything higher than a low elite-tier. There were two others there too, so we fought them off easily enough. We just got a few minor injuries.”

“I see,” Leilah said. “I had no idea this was happening.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Sera said. “It got little attention from the authorities. I was just wondering if you’d ever heard of something like this in your line of work.”

“... The concept has always been there,” Leilah said. “An artificial way to power up or weaken abilities... It would be a complete game changer for our society, wouldn’t it? It could close the gap between tiers.”

“Or it could widen it,” Sera said. “It’d be a way for someone to gain even more power. Imagine if a god-tier like us got their hands on one. We’d be nigh unstoppable.”

“I suppose we would be,” Leilah said. “How are you doing, anyway? Are you still pretending to be a cripple?”

As Sera was about to answer, the dorm door swung open, revealing Elaine. She gave Sera an awkward wave. Sera sighed.

“I’ll call you again later,” she said. “My roommate just got back. See you.”

“See you, Sera,” Leilah said. “I’ll get back to you if I find anything important.”

Sera hung up the phone.

* * *

“... And after all that, we went to Vaughn to discuss things,” John finished. “The whole thing sounds weird, right?”

Across the table, Remi stared at him, jaw hanging. She leaned back in her seat, careful not to disturb her healing arm.

“It sounds odd,” she began. “The truck was able to temporarily disable your powers?”

“I couldn’t sense anyone’s aura, and Elaine couldn’t heal herself,” John said. “Arlo’s barrier was also far weaker than usual. If I had to guess, they were on a time limit, hence why they left so early.”

“Makes sense,” Remi agreed. “Did you ever head to that ability gauge stand in Kovoro Mall? I recall Blyke mentioning awhile back that you had one of those teddy bears in your room.”

“Oh, yeah, I did,” John said. “You went there too, right? Blyke told me. Like you, I found a tracker hidden in my bear.”

He grimaced. “I spent a night at Sera’s house with that thing. If I had to guess, that was how they tracked me down there that night. Blyke destroyed the tracker as soon as he found it.”

“So they were using the gauge stand to track down high-tiers and potentially kidnap them,” Remi mused. “If I had to guess, they were unable to capture you while at the dorms, considering the security Keene puts up. They had to catch you somewhere where there was less protection.”

“Unluckily for them, they didn’t have to deal with one god-tier but two,” John said, a smile quirking on his lips. “I don’t think they expected Sera to choke out one of them with a jump rope either.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” John said. “What matters it that not once, but twice did they try to inject me with something. Whatever it was, I don’t think it was good news.”

“It might’ve been another form of the power suppressant,” Remi said. “I discovered something similar to it during my time as X-Rei with Isen and Blyke.

“What was it?” John said.

“It wasn’t a power suppressant, but rather a power amplifier,” Remi said. “You would receive in the form of injections via syringe. EMBER was the one handing them out.”

She hesitated for a moment. “I think that was how they killed Rei. If our cases our connected, and there is some kind of power-nullifier to pair with the amps, they could’ve easily taken him down. And with Volcan...”

Remi absentmindedly rubbed her right arm. “I know how Rei died now, and I know who did it. The matter is catching them.”

“But Volcan could overpower all three of you,” John said. “You think those power amps were in play?”

“Maybe,” Remi said. “But they were also handing them out to low-tier districts, so maybe the amps are still in testing stages? I’d want to make them perfect before handing them off to high-tiers. If they can amp a mid-tier to an Elite...”

“Then a god-tier would be a nuke,” John finished. “By the way you’re explaining them, the way the amps work sounds similar to how I amplify copied abilities, albeit a temporary version.

Abilities are connected to DNA, right?” John said. “Theoretically, if someone were to get their hands on some of mine, and figure out how to weaponise it, a power amp sounds like the probable outcome.”

“That, or being able to carry multiple abilities somehow,” Remi said. Her eyes brightened. “NXGEN!”

“What?” John said.

“You remember that news report about NXGEN, right?” Remi said. “A couple months ago, they were working on a top secret project, with government funding, and everything!”

“... Are you saying that we accidentally stumbled on a government conspiracy?”

“Maybe!” Remi said, shrugging. She lowered her voice. “I mean, think about it. The authorities hate vigilantes. Who’s killing vigilantes? EMBER. They’re selling power amplifiers. Who’s researching abilities? NXGEN.”

John rubbed his temples. “... Wow. This just got far too real for me.”

Remi laughed. “It’s just a theory. But I think we’re onto something here. Even if I can’t be X-Rei anymore, I can still do some research, right? Maybe I’ll contact some people I met and see if they know anything else.”

“I can help too,” John said. “A few weeks ago, I spoke to someone who works for one of those ability companies, ZetaSci. She mentioned how my ability would be incredibly useful for someone like them.”

“Makes sense,” Remi reasoned. “I have a feeling NXGEN wouldn’t mind you working for them either.”

“Maybe,” John agreed. He scratched his head. “Jeez. The more I think about, the more I wonder what was in that syringe.”

“For all we know, it could’ve been something as simple as a tranquilizer,” Remi shrugged. “I have a feeling that you getting away from them was the best-case scenario.”

“It probably was,” John agreed, nodding his head. “I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if there're any updates in my case.”

He pulled his math textbook from his bag. “In the meantime, I have a test tomorrow. As interesting as government conspiracies are, I have far more trivial things to do at the moment. Want to study with me?”

“Sure!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting a longer chapter than normal, mainly because this story is going on hiatus for a bit. I'd like to finish up the rest of the drafts before I publish anymore, and this chapter seems like a decent place to end things off for now. I hope to be back by the end of this month, but we'll see.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	9. Rising Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John finds himself targeted. Sera notices someone following her around the school.

John stood on the rooftop, gazing through the chain-link fence to the courtyards below. A couple slackers stood around, skipping class. Not that John could really judge them- he was doing the same.

Thoughts on the conversation between him and Remi from the day before arose. John’s fingers darted to his abdomen, where a faint scar remained under his shirt.

_That dampener group wanted me for some reason. That power gauger sensed I was a god-tier and gave me a bugged bear to track me with. Then they waited for an opportunity to catch me._

_Whoever this group is, they have time and resources to spend. That dampener temporarily removed my passive and weakened me._

_Why did they want me though?_

_“I mean, think about it. The authorities hate vigilantes. Who’s killing vigilantes? EMBER. They’re selling power amplifiers. Who’s researching abilities? NXGEN.”_

_Were they associated with the authorities? Did that interrogation with Nadia somehow get me on their radar? Why would they try to put me down in such a roundabout way, though?_

_EMBER seems to comprise of high-tiers. The group that attacked me and the others were far weaker than that._

John rubbed his forehead.

_Maybe they wanted me for my ability? Whether or not they’re affiliated with the authorities, there are ability drugs running around Wellston, and they had to come from somewhere._

_Just another thing to look into._

John left the rooftop. Thoughts about what to do still raced through his mind. Maybe he could look at the reports on the EMBER murders or something and see how they connected to all of this. Or maybe he should give Unordinary another look.

As he headed down the hallway, quick footsteps came from behind him. John turned. Krolik ran towards him at full speed, fists raised and poised to attack. John easily dodged the first blow, and activated his ability, searching for anything. Nothing.

_He isn’t using his ability?_

Sensing his confusion, Krolik only smiled. He threw another punch at John, who easily caught it. Grabbing both of Krolik’s wrists, John slammed him into a locker.

“What’re you playing at?” John muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Krolik said. “Can’t find any powers to steal?”

_Is he really trying to dethrone me? He... He can’t be serious._

John grabbed Krolik by the shirt, flipping him onto the ground. He pressed his foot into Krolik’s chest. “I’m not sure what you think you’re doing, but you’ll have to try a lot harder than that.”

Krolik didn’t reply. John removed his foot and walked off.

* * *

“Uhm… hey! It’s Seraphina, right?”

A girl sidled up next to Sera nervously, fiddling with one of her dark pink pigtails. Sera shot a glance at her. While she didn’t know the girl’s name, she recognized her as one of the many low-tiers populating Wellston.

The girl shuffled from foot to foot. “You’re good friends with John, right?”

“Yes,” Sera said, instantly suspicious. “Why?”

“I just wanted to make sure!” the girl explained frantically. “I see you around with him all the time and uhm... I wanted to ask you to tell him something. My name is Evie.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?” Sera responded. She wasn’t in the mood for assisting other low-tiers.

“I don’t want to bother him,” Evie said. “He’s really strong and cool, and honestly, I’m kind of intimidated...”

She trailed off, shaking her head. “I heard some mid-tiers talking about him lately. With the entire article thing, I’m worried that something might happen. Can you tell him to be careful?”

Sera watched Evie carefully. “... Fine.”

Relieved, Evie nodded. “Thanks!”

Evie quickly ran off, and Sera shook her head. A feeling of doubt ran through her.

_Those mid-tiers wouldn’t be that idiotic, right?_

Sera continued walking down the hallway towards her class. The strange sensation that she was being followed. Seraphina stopped mid-step, and glanced behind her. She could’ve sworn she saw a flicker of green disappear around the corner.

Her gut told her something was up, so Seraphina followed it. She turned around, stepping around the corner. An empty hallway stared back at her. She had taken little time to turn around and look, so there would’ve been little opportunity for anyone to run out of sight.

_... How odd. I’ll just keep my eye out from anything unusual._

Sera turned, and left.

From within a nearby locker, Juni let out a sigh of relief, eyes flashing gold.

* * *

“Here you go.”

Sweeping up the last of the fallen papers, John handed them over to Roland. Roland apprehensively took them, shoving them back into his binder. He kept his eyes firmly averted from John.

“... Thanks.” Roland murmured, slipping away.

As he left, John scratched his head. He still got the feeling Roland was scared of him. Brushing aside the thought for the moment, John headed towards the stairs, past a group of low-tiers. John nodded at them. None replied.

When John walked down the first stair, someone stuck out their leg, tripping him. 

John’s shoes skidded over the stairs as he tried to catch traction on his way down, failing miserably. On instinct, John sprawled his hands out, hitting the landing with a loud thud.

John looked down at one of his wrists, which was bent at an awkward angle. His ankle was likewise twisted. John staggered to his feet, and looked up at the group of indifferent students on top of the stairs. While an undercurrent of fear pulsated through the air, a sense of abhorrence overpowered it.

_Which one of them...?_

The low-tiers quickly scattered away, fearful of any consequences. John gritted his teeth, the pain in his ankle spiking as placed weight on it.

_Not like I can go after them like this._

Gently holding his wrist, John eased himself down the rest of the stairs one at a time. Students stared as he limped past them towards the infirmary.

_Why are they so surprised? I used to get scratched up all the time during Rank Battles._

_**But you were up against other high-tiers then. To be injured by the likes of a mid-tier-** _

John shook his head. No. He had to stop thinking like that. He had changed.

* * *

“Hey Seraphinaaaa~!”

Seraphina rolled her eyes, not sparing the mid-tier harassing her a glance. Instead, she focused her attention on getting to the cafeteria as quickly as possible. The mid-tier (Kalum, or something. Seraphina couldn’t be bothered to remember his name) grabbed her by the blazer, dragging her back to face him.

“Hey! When I talk to you, you answer, cripple!”

“I don’t have to speak to someone like you,” Sera shot back. “You’re not even worth my time.”

“You bitch!”

Kalum raised his hand, preparing to slap her. Sera easily dodged his attempted strike, sweeping at his legs with her foot. As Kalum hit the ground, Sera dusted her hands off and returned her gait towards the cafeteria.

From the corner of her eye, a flash of green flickered. Sera tried to duck, but she was too late. A phantom hand slammed into back, crushing her into a locker. Sera coughed, a splatter of red dripping onto her shirt. Kalum’s hand glowed blue, ready to shoot off another attack.

“HEY!”

A hand reached out through a portal, and smacked Kalum. Holden stepped through the portal, arms crossed and an angry expression on his face.

“I thought I said no fighting in the halls!” he snarled. “Especially during lunch!”

“Uhm...” Kalum’s bravado quickly faded. “I was just getting there! This cripple annoyed me!”

“Just get to the cafeteria!” Holden yelled. “Stop clogging the hallway with your fighting!”

He gestured angrily behind him, where a small pack of students waited. Kalum muttered a few foul words under his breath, but he scampered away.

Holden glanced at Seraphina. “That includes you too. Stop getting into fights you can’t win.”

“I didn’t get into a fight,” Sera snapped back. “They attacked me.”

“I don’t care who started it!” Holden said. “It’s my job to break up fights in the hallway! Head to the infirmary!”

Sera sent him one last glare, but did as he said. The attack from Kalum had left a lingering pain across her torso, and it would probably bruise if she didn’t get any healing. When she entered the infirmary, it surprised her to see John already there on a bed, tapping away at his phone. He gave her a wave, revealing a wrist wrapped tightly in bandages. 

“Hey.” he said. “What happened to you?”

“The usual,” Sera said. “You?”

“Got tripped,” John said, gesturing to his wrist, and his similarly bandaged leg. “Took a brief fall down the stairs.”

He shifted, making room for Sera on the infirmary bed. Sera took a seat next time, drinking the bitter tonic Doc gave her. Once she set the cup down, she glanced sideways at John.

_We’re both getting hurt more than usual these days. How upsetting._

_**It’s because of him. If he didn’t keep on helping those low-tiers-** _

_He’s doing the right thing._

_**Is he? Last I checked, those low-tiers deserve none of his help.** _

_SHUT UP!_

Sera slammed her fist down on the bed, attempting to silence the monster inside of her. This caught John’s attention.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she claimed. “Just thinking about how annoying all of this is. With that article, some people going to go after you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” John said lightly. “Even without an ability, I can defend myself. Before I reached god-tier, I was used to having to fight with my fists all the time.”

It wasn’t hard to tell that he was unsure of himself. Seraphina caught the brief flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, the way his hand drew to the bandages wrapping his broken wrist.

“I’ll be fine.” John said, more to himself than to her.

* * *

Tensions only continued to rise as the days passed.

Wellston slipped back into a tentative peace, though anyone could tell that the school was entering an uneasy state. Beneath the surface, discontent was brewing, and Sera found herself caught right in the middle of it.

As Sera stepped outside the school, a light drizzle showered her. Pulling out her umbrella, Sera sighed at the sight of her bandage-swathed arms. The weather perfectly matched the gloomy state of the school, and herself. 

Things had been the same as always in terms of attacks, and Sera was starting to reach the end of the line in terms of patience. The students deemed her as a worthy target, since they were unable to effectively go after John.

Sera headed towards her dorm, hoping that Elaine wasn't there yet. The last thing she needed at the moment was Elaine awkwardly hovering around her, asking if she wanted any healing for her arms.

A prickle ran down her spine, and again, the feeling she was being followed emerged. It had been coming on and off the last few days, but the unknown stalker could always get away before she could catch her, almost as if they had some kind of foreknowledge of how she would react.

Sera stepped around the corner, coming to an abrupt stop. Squishy footsteps came from behind as the stalker followed her. Sera whipped around the corner, brandishing her umbrella as a weapon.

The stalker took off, their own yellow umbrella hiding their head from view.

“Hey!” Sera shouted, taking off after her.

A chase ensued. Sera ran after her stalker, but the girl seemed to be annoyingly perceptive. It was odd to be on the chaser’s side, but Sera sped up, trying to catch her.

The girl disappeared into the dorm building, and Sera threw open the door seconds later. A crowd of students were relaxing in the lobby, most of them likely staying inside due to the incoming rainstorm. The girl had already disappeared into the sea of matching skirts and blazers, leaving her unidentifiable.

_Dammit, she got away. Why do she keep on following me?_

* * *

_Jeez… I should’ve brought an umbrella._

John held out a hand, feeling the rain splatter against it. It was picking up, and he’d run late after school because of him staying at the library to print off some news reports. John had pulled down one sleeve of his blazer, intending on using it as a shield when someone shouted.

“John, I need your help!”

Wenqi ran up to him, her eyes panicked. She tossed her blond hair over her shoulder, panting for air. “There’s an elite-tier beating up my friend in the courtyard! I tried to help, but he’s too powerful for us! Can you help me?”

“Oh, uh, sure!” John said. “Where is it happening?”

“I’ll lead you there!” Wenqi promised, gesturing wildly. “Follow me!”

John nodded, running after her. “Activate your ability. I can co-“

“I’ll do it when we get there!” Wenqi hastily responded. “Come on!”

Slightly confused, John followed her. He held up an arm, shielding himself from the rain. After multiple twists and turns, they reached a secluded courtyard where a small pack of mid-tiers awaited.

“Where’s the elite-tier?” John said.

Wenqi went silent. She walked over to the pack of mid-tiers, nodding at them. “Told you it would work.”

_It would work?_

John looked at the group of mid-tiers, who were staring at him contemptuously.

_It’s a trap._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Holden  
>  Ability: Portal  
> Level: 4.0 **
> 
> -
> 
> Hey! I'm finally back!
> 
> From here on out, I'll be (hopefully) returning to weekly updates, unless stated otherwise. While I do have a rough update schedule set up, it might change depending on how busy I am irl. Admittedly, I'm kind of nervous about releasing these next few chapters, as I want them to be up to par with my previous updates. All of Retribution's chapter drafts are complete though, so that's good!
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	10. Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revenge is exacted. The breaking point is reached.

John’s head ached.

Thrums of pain shot through his temples every few seconds, and he distantly heard the faint rumble of thunder come from outside. John’s eyes fluttered open, vision blurry as he blinked at the half-dried blood crusting his eyelashes.

As his vision cleared, he saw his clothes were soaking wet, the top of his white shirt splattered with crimson stains. John tried to raise a hand to his face, only to realize that his arms were tightly tied behind his back with a length of rope, binding him to a pole.

Memories of what had happened before came rushing back. He’d attempted to get away, but the mid-tiers swarmed him all at once. While the first few were easy enough to fight off, someone got a lucky hit on him, and John cracked his head on the pavement.

John tried to shift himself into a sitting position, glancing up. The group of mid-tiers stood before him.

“Ohohoho! So you’re finally awake~!”

Wenqi smiled at him, her lemon eyes glinting with excitement. She gestured wildly, and the small crowd of students stopped their conversations. John recognized most of them as mid-tiers, with the occasional low-tier.

“Where am I?” John said.

“‘Where am I?’” Illena mocked. “That’s none of your business.”

John tried to stand up, but immediately fell down again. He glanced down. His right leg was unnaturally twisted, his pant leg soaked with blood. They’d broken it.

_Crap._

John activated his ability, seeing if there was anything he could copy. As he expected, nothing came up. They were purposefully not using their powers, so he couldn’t copy them.

“There are no abilities for you to copy here, _leech_. It's just you and all of us.” Illena sneered. “And we’re in the mood for some revenge. But first, to cut off the loose ends.”

Illena gestured to Wenqi, who held up John’s phone. It lit up briefly, displaying notification from Blyke, asking where he was. The phone slipped through Wenqi’s fingers with a teasing “Oops!” to where it cracked on the ground.

“Hey-!” John shouted, jolting forward. He clenched his teeth, searing pain running through his right leg. “That cost money, you bastards!”

He was about to say more when Illena slapped him across the face, hard. John’s head snapped to the side, cheek stinging. His eyes fell on his phone. Although cracked, it still looked functional. If he positioned himself properly, maybe he could-

Krolik walked towards him, making sure to stomp on John’s phone as he passed. The phone’s light winked out, along with John’s hope.

* * *

Sera laid down on her bed, finding herself engulfed by boredom. With it now thundering out, there was hardly anything entertaining to do, especially with her phone still gone and her laptop charging.

After a moment’s hesitation, Sera got to her feet. She grabbed the dorm phone, dialing John’s number. The phone rang five times before going to voicemail.

... Weird. John usually picked up right away, especially with his phone’s annoyingly shrill ringtone. Sera dialed again. Still nothi

Setting the receiver down, Sera resolved to just do her homework for the time being, and try again later.

* * *

“Aargh!”

John slammed into the wall with a grunt. His bound wrists were chafed from struggling, and if possible, his leg ached even more. Krolik lowered his fist, amusement dancing across his face.

“That was for a couple days ago!” he shouted. “Maybe you’ll think twice before doing that again.”

“What, defending myself?” John countered. “You attacked me first!”

“It serves you right,” Krolik snapped. “Always looking down on us, acting like we were nothing but dirt- we were just punching bags for you and the other Elites!”

He swung his leg back, kicking John in the gut. John doubled over, choking a mixture of blood and bile onto the ground.

_This isn’t going well... Without an ability, I’m not going to be getting out of this easily. I need to goad them._

A mocking smile curved onto his lips. “At least I was honest about my intentions. Tricking and ganging up on me, then tying me up like this- you really don’t have any confidence in your skills, do you?”

John tilted his head. “Come to think of it, you tried to take me on solo last time, with no ability. At least I use everything I have at my arsenal, instead of resorting to underhanded tactics.”

A vein bulged on Krolik’s forehead. “You want to-“

“Krolik!” Hower smacked him upside the head. “Pay attention, you dunce. Even I’m bright enough to know that he’s trying to get you to use Lazor. Get your crap together.”

“But I-“

“Oh, just shut up Krolik,” Wenqi agreed. “I’m getting bored by all of this.”

She walked over, undoing the ropes around John’s wrists. “You want to fight, leech? Let’s go.”

John barely had a chance to stretch his stiff arms before Wenqi leapt forward, striking his broken leg. John fell to one knee, and Wenqi took this opening to let loose a flurry of punches. John could only raise his arms in defense. 

“What’s wrong?” Wenqi taunted. “You seem to be having some trouble!”

John clenched his teeth. He caught one of Wenqi’s wrists, and punched her in the face with his free hand. Blood spurted from her nose, and John swung his skull forward, bashing his forehead into hers. Wenqi swore, hitting the ground.

Swiveling on his heel, John glanced around him. While the door was too far, there might be a window he could break out of.

Before he could make a move, Hower shoved him to the ground. He stomped down on one of John’s arms with a sickening crack, and John bit back a scream. Hower roughly grabbed both of John’s arms, tying them back together. Krolik helped Wenqi back up, who was holding her bleeding nose.

“Once I get out of here, there’s going to be consequences.” John said.

“It’ll all be worth it,” Illena replied. “We already face derision and the occasional fights with Elites anyways. This time, we’ll at least have a reason for invoking their anger. They scorn us just because they think they’re better for having stronger abilities.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you all do to the low-tiers?” John said. “You’re not exactly in a position to judge me.”

“I believe we are.” Hower laughed. “Trust me, there are _plenty_ of people here who have a bone to pick with you.”

A purple haired girl stepped up next. John recognized her as a low-tier, Selene. Her silver eyes narrowed when she saw him.

“Remember me?” she said. “I seem to recall you beating me up back, then having the audacity to pretend nothing ever happened.”

“I’m sorry,” John said. “That was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have-“

“We’re long past apologies,” Selene snapped. “You’re only apologizing because your secret is out and you’re now the one in danger!”

She began to rant, a slap punctuated each sentence.

“I came to Wellston, hoping that it’d be different!”

_SLAP!_

“Instead-!”

_SLAP!_

“-I got the crap beaten out of me-!”

_SLAP!_

“-by some Elite who was salty that he got his ass whooped by the King!”

_SLAP!_

Selene dropped him, her jaw working furiously. “You and all the others treat us like crap already! It’s not like anything worse can happen!”

With one last grunt, she kicked John in the ribs. She stepped back, wiping away some stray tears from her face.

John’s head spun. The repeated jolting back and forth had reopened his head wound. Warm rivulets of fresh blood dripped down his face, staining his vision red.

“Oh, done already?”

Illena grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up. “Because we’re far from over with you.”

* * *

By the next morning, Sera’s worry had yet to dissipate. Deep inside her, there was a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and it was weighing on her. Her worries only intensified when John wasn’t at his usual spot by the gates.

Stomach sinking, Sera headed into the school, running immediately to John’s first class. John wasn’t in his usual spot in the classroom, and when Sera asked the teacher if he had seen him, he just shrugged. Sera slammed the door on her way out, ignoring that the bell had rung, and it was time to head to class.

Sera bit her tongue. As much as she despised Blyke for the hallway incident, he was John’s roommate. Maybe John had skipped classes again and spent the day at his dorm.

Catching a flash of red hair, Sera grabbed Blyke’s shoulder. “Blyke, did you see John this morning, in your dorms?”

“What? No.” Blyke said.

_Crap._

"I thought he was with you," Blyke continued, clearly uneasy. "Have you-"

Without responding to Blyke, Sera spun on her heel, running off. She headed straight for the infirmary, flinging the door open. Doc was at a cot, handing a low-tier a tonic.

“Doc! Has John stopped by!” she yelled.

“What? No?”

Before Doc could even ask what happened, Sera had left.

_Maybe he’s on the rooftop?_

Sera ran up the stairs quickly, flinging open the rooftop door. Another Elite was there, and his expression quickly soured upon seeing Sera.

“Was John up here earlier?” she said frantically.

“No,” Abel said. “Get off the rooftop.”

“Have you seen him around anywhere?”

“No!” Abel yelled, annoyed. “Go away!”

_The rooftop is a decent vantage point. It’d be easier to find him if I-_

A blast knocked Sera off her feet, launching her down the stairs. Sera caught her fall by grabbing one of the railings, twisting her wrist in the process. Abel loomed above her, crossing his arms.

“Low-tiers like you aren’t allowed on the rooftop,” he snapped. “Go away.”

Sera glared at him. Abel raised his hand once again, eyes glowing.

_I can’t win a fight in an enclosed space like this. Not to mention the fact that Abel is an elite-tier._

Taking a deep breath, Sera spun on her heel, resolving to further search for John within the school.

* * *

Evie fiddled with her bandages, rubbing at the itchy skin. It was a shame to lose another blazer to a mid-tier attack, but at least she had a couple more in her dorms.

Instead of thinking of her own problems, however, her mind was riddled with other worries. When she was getting patched up that morning, Seraphina had burst in, asking where John was. Doc barely got out an answer before Seraphina left just as quickly as she came.

“Everything alright, Evie?”

Evie glanced up. “Roland! It’s nothing. Just got beat up again, you know?”

“I can see that,” Roland noted, glancing at her missing blazer and bandaged body. “But you’re usually not too bothered by stuff like that.”

“I-“ Evie kicked at the tile. “You’re right. Remember how we overheard those mid-tiers talking the other day?”

“Yeah?” Roland said. “Did you end up telling Seraphina?”

Evie nodded. “She didn’t seem super bothered by it. But today, she came to the infirmary in a hurry, asking Doc if he’d seen John. She seemed pretty worried.”

“Maybe one of the others knows about it.” Roland offered. “You’re pretty worried about John, you know.”

Evie fiddled with her blazer. “Well... I’m really thankful for all the times he helped all of us low-tiers, you know?”

She frantically waved her hands. “Though- you don’t have to help me out! I know that you-“

“No, I’m long over it,” Roland said. “It was a long time ago, and I’ve been hurt worse since then. Let’s find Lin.”

While not friends, most low-tiers were familiar with each other in virtue of all the time they spent in the infirmary. Lin often prided himself on being caught up in most of the mid-tier drama. Sure enough, Evie and Roland found Lin loitering by the cafeteria, listening in on conversations as students passed by.

“Evie, Roland,” Lin said, nodding at them.

Evie nodded back. “Have you heard anything about John?”

Lin watched on, uninterested. “You haven’t heard? I heard through the grapevine that a couple students caught John off guard. Crail asked me if I wanted to help.”

“... What?”

“I considered it,” Lin admitted. “But there was too much risk involved. Us low-tiers are already on thin ice in a school like this.”

Evie bit her lip.

“Why? Do wanna join in?” Lin said.

“No, I was just wondering.” Evie said, inching away. “Thanks.”

She walked away, rubbing her temples. “At least we now know something’s up?”

“What do you think we should do?” Roland said, rubbing his arm. “We don’t even know where he is.”

“Maybe if we approached the right mid-tier, we could find out...”

Evie trailed off, and both of them shuddered at the thought of the potential beat-up if they asked the wrong person. Even if they found the right person, what were the chances that they would even get a chance to ask them before getting attacked?

“Maybe we should just report it to the Royals,” Evie said, though the task sounded daunting, even to her. She could barely make eye-contact with the Royals, much less string words into a coherent sentence while speaking to them.

“I can help with that.”

Both of them jumped. While Evie could’ve sworn they were alone, a brown-haired boy now stood right behind them.

“Terrence!” she shouted. “You scared me!”

“You’ve got to stop doing that invisible thing,” Roland agreed, holding his chest. “How long have you been there?”

“I know where John is.” Terrence said, dodging the question. “We should inform an Elite if we want to have any chance of rescuing him.”

He tilted his head. “I believe Blyke and the others are currently searching for John. Shall we?”

* * *

Sera ran through the school, searching for John. She hadn’t seen him anywhere, and no one was bothering to give her the time of day. As she searched every room in the school, she realized that John likely wasn’t there. Recalling Evie’s words from before, the pit in Sera’s stomach only grew.

Someone stuck their leg out, and Sera tripped, sprawling onto the ground. Around her, students laughed.

“What’s wrong, Seraphina?” Clio said. “Running late for something?”

Sera sprung up, punching Clio in the face. Clio squawked, and Sera slammed her against a locker. “Where is he?”

“Ew! Get your hands off me!” Clio shouted, shoving her away.

“I know one of you took him,” Sera said. “Where is he?”

“Excuse me?” Clio said. “Are you talking about your little friend, the Ace?”

Her friend nudged Clio. “I heard he skipped class again.”

“Really?” Clio said. She grinned, turning to Sera. “Who knows, maybe he’s finally tired of your presence? He completely ruined his reputation, hanging out with someone like you.”

“John isn’t like that!” Sera snapped. “Ever since that article, people have been trying to catch him off guard. He-”

“Well, he deserves it, if he gets defeated by likes of a mid-tier,” Clio said, shaking her head. “To imagine that he was once King is embarrassing.”

“You-!” Sera swung a fist at Clio, punching her.

Clio swore and tried to throw a punch back. Sera dodged. As she prepared to swing another punch, Clio’s friends grabbed her arms, holding her back. Smiling, Clio punched Sera.

Sera coughed, her head spinning. Clio barely hit hard, but for some reason, she couldn’t keep her focus. After getting a few good punches, Clio left her there, giggling as she walked off with her friend. Most students shuffled by her, not sparing her a glance.

“The cripple’s finally lost her marbles, huh?”

“What a crazy bitch.”

“Guess that’s what happens when there’s no one left to leech off.”

Sera curled against one of the lockers, holding her aching ribs. The crowd of students slowly dissipated, leaving her all alone.

_What is the point of all this?_

Her fists tightened.

_I act nice. I mind my own business. Yet I still get treated like crap, all because of the hierarchy._

Sera took a shuddering breath.

_In this world, the only thing anyone understands is force._

They want a monster? So be it.

_Her eyes glowed._

Seraphina got to her feet, pink gears spinning around her bruised body, swiftly repairing damage. She flexed her fist, watching the bruised skin return to its normal peachy shade.

“O-Oh!”

Sera turned. A green-haired girl stood behind her, phone clutched tightly in her hands. Face pale, the girl nervously laughed.

“You’re Seraphina, right?”

Within moments, Sera had the girl pressed up against a wall, time frozen to a standstill.

“I think you’ll find I’m running low on patience today. Where is John?”

“I can show you the place!” the girl squeaked. “My name is Juni! I- I know about you, and your fight with Arlo...?”

_... What?_

Everything lined up. Green hair. School uniform. The persisting feeling that she was being followed.

“You were the one stalking me,” Sera realized. Her eyes narrowed. Her arm pressed down harder on Juni’s throat. “Why?”

“I- I just wanted to learn more about you!” Juni squeaked. “I heard your conversation with Arlo about that article, and I was curious about learning more! I had nothing malicious in mind, I swear!”

_She’s lying._

“I want to help you!” Juni insisted. “I know you defeated Arlo! I… a lot of us are tired of his regime! I want to help you! I’m a reporter, so I know just about everything going on with the mid-tiers! I know where John is!”

Sera ground her teeth. While she wanted nothing more than to interrogate Juni further about her intentions, there were more pressing matters to attend to. John was still missing, and at the moment, he took priority.

“Tell me where he is,” Sera said.

“It’s the abandoned house, 12 Batson Street?” Juni squeaked. “That’s what I heard at least... It’s a pretty empty street, so it makes sense?”

“You better not be lying to me,” Seraphina said. She shoved Juni to the ground with a loud crunch. Her glowing eyes faded. “I’ll deal with you later.”

Juni held her broken nose with one hand, watching her leave.

* * *

John blinked, trying to keep his bleary eyes open. Sitting in a cold house the whole night while soaking wet had done little to help his battered state. He’d tried to remove his arms from his binding, but his broken arm made it far too painful. Instead, he rested his aching head on his shoulder, watching his blazer steadily change from teal to dark red. The mid-tiers had done quite a number on him. He could barely move.

The door opened and John glanced up, daring to hope that someone had come to help. Instead, Illena, Wenqi, Krolik, and Crail were all back.

Crail gave John a look, unease momentarily flickering across his face. “Maybe we shouldn’t have left him overnight. He isn’t looking too good.”

“He deserves it.” was Illena’s curt reply. She walked up, grabbing John by the collar. “How does it feel? This is only a fraction of the pain you and the other Elites put us through.”

John’s head lolled.

_... Right. Even if I stopped beating students up, I never did anything to help the problem. I stood by and watched Sera end up in the infirmary again and again every day._

_Some of this is my fault..._

“What’s wrong?” Illena’s teased. “Is the lesson finally sinking in?”

John looked up, and coughed a mouthful of blood onto her face.

Illena’s face screwed up with anger. She wiped the blood off as she grabbed John’s good arm. “Seems you need a little more teaching!”

She twisted the arm, almost snapping it. John didn’t have the energy to cry out, only letting out a whimper.

“Illena!” Krolik shouted. “Cut it out! Anymore, and he’s going to need a hospital visit!”

“So?!”

“He has a point,” Wenqi said. “John _is_ a god-tier. If he gets sent to the hospital, they’re going to ask questions.”

“I don’t care!” Illena shouted. “He deserves it!”

“And I’m telling you, I want out of this,” Crail disagreed. “If this ends up on my record, I’m screwed.”

“Maybe you should’ve considered that before you joined us, dipshit,” Wenqi shot back.

Any further argument was cut off by the sound of the downstairs door opening. John raised his head, dreading the arrival of another vengeful student.

Evie burst through the door. When she saw John, her eyes widened.

“Evie?” Illena laughed. “Did you really come here thinking you can help?”

Evie pressed her lips together tightly, her pink eyes glowing. Sensing her ability activation, John hungrily latched onto her aura, copying it. Bright light exploded from his body, blinding the mid-tiers. John tried to stumble to his feet, but his legs were numb, causing him to fall back onto the ground.

“I’m not alone,” Evie murmured.

Roland and Terrence followed in after her. Wenqi let out a high-pitched laugh. “Oh, wow! Two low-tiers and a mid-tier! I’m so scare-“

Her laughing abruptly stopped when Blyke came in after them. His eyes widened when he saw John.

“What the actual _fuck_ is wrong with all of you?”

The mid-tiers didn’t have a response. Blyke shoved past all of them, picking John up. He staggered slightly under the weight, but Terrence quickly came to his aid.

“Really, Evie?!” Hower shouted. “You asshats sold us out to the Jack!?”

He was silenced by a cold look from Blyke.

“You all have some nerve,” Blyke snarled. “Kidnapping a student and holding him hostage overnight- what the hell were all of you thinking?!”

“Please!” Illena spat. “You only give a shit because it’s John! If it had been anyone else, you would’ve been gallivanting around on your high horse like usual!”

“Illena, you should-“

“Shut up, Krolik!” Illena shouted. “It was time one you got knocked down a few pegs! Just because you’re stronger than us, you think you can walk all over us! Newsflash! We’re all sick of you treating us like dirt! You’re no better than us!”

That one struck a nerve. Blyke sharply inhaled and turned. “You’re right on one thing. Us Elites haven’t been doing enough to help.”

His voice sharpened. “But at least we never _kidnapped and tortured_ a student. You don’t have any claim to a moral high ground here. Expect yourselves to be reported to the Headmaster.”

Blyke nodded to the others. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll deal with them later. Thank you all for informing me of this.”

* * *

Sera approached the abandoned house, anger pumping through her veins. She stepped through the mass of fallen boards and overgrown foliage, heading to the rotted front door. Murmured arguments came from within, all about what they should do. 

“I told you this was a crappy idea to begin with! We could’ve just ambushed him a couple times at school!”

“Oh, shut up Crail! You were just as happy with this idea as the rest of us!”

“Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit! We’re so screwed. What if Vaughn puts this on our record!? It’s hard enough to get into university as it is!”

“Those fricking low-tiers had to be sellouts!”

Sera’s hand wrapped around the doorknob, no longer having any patience for their arguments.

_It’s time for some karmic retribution._

Time froze to a standstill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's wondering, this chapter and Rising Tensions was the whole reason why this thing took a month to come back. I remember spending wayyyy too much time trying to get the draft of this chapter to work, only to end up scrapping it and rewriting it.
> 
> Anyways, hope you guys liked it!
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	11. Vengeance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the aftermath of John's capture, an argument is held, and an alliance is formed.

“I told you this was a crappy idea to begin with! We could’ve just ambushed him a couple times at school!”

Crail crossed his arms, a furious look on his face. Wenqi rolled her eyes.

“Oh, shut up, Crail! You were just as happy with this idea as the rest of us!”

“Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit!” Krolik grabbed his head. “We’re so screwed. What if Vaughn puts this on our record!? It’s hard enough to get into university as it is!”

Illena crossed her arms, wholly unhappy with how things had turned out. Of all people, those lousy mid-tiers had to a drag a Royal in it! Now, they were trapped in a corner, unable to weasel their way out of trouble.

“Those fricking low-tiers had to be sellouts!” Hower snarled. “I swear, when I get my hands on them-“

A rush of wind blew through the air, and before anyone knew it, Hower soared past them, smashing into the stone walls with a crunch. Everyone’s head immediately swiveled to Wenqi, who looked just as surprised as the rest of them.

_If it wasn’t her, who-_

The rush came again, and this time it was Wenqi who was attacked. One second, she was standing, the next her skull slammed into the wooden floorboards. Crail backed up, watching in horror as blood pooled around Wenqi’s head. Abrasions covered her skin.

“What the hell…?!” Crail swore. “Screw this! I’m out of here!”

Crail spun on his heel, making a break for the stairs. Before he could even place a foot on a stair, he shot forward, slamming onto the ground. Rotted wooden boards snapped beneath his weight, causing him to plummet to the first floor below.

_Someone’s after us._

There was no question why they might be targeting them.

Krolik quivered, glancing around him. “I’m sorry! It went too far! We weren’t meaning for John to get hurt that badly! We just wanted to teach him a less-“

In a similar fashion to Hower, he was thrown back, slamming into a concrete pillar. He slumped over, unconscious. Like the others, he was covered in abrasions.

Illena stood on her own, the only one left. Her eyes shone blue, the adrenaline pumping through her as her ability activated. “You wanna fight? Come on, you coward! Why don’t you show yourself!?”

There was silence. Then a figure flickered into existence. A girl in a school uniform stood before Illena, a paper bag covering the entirety of her face. Through the two torn out eye holes was bright blue light.

Illena leapt forward, ready to attack, when her body stalled mid-motion. Her body was grey, and despite her best efforts, Illena was unable to move an inch. The girl surged towards her at an impossible speed, raising a fist.

_Some kind of time ability? But that’s impossible! No one at Wellston-_

Illena didn’t have time to finish that thought. The girl punched in the stomach, and Illena flew backwards, smashing into the wall. Her head slumped, vision blurry. The girl surged forwards once more, and the last thing Illena saw was a blur of navy blue before everything went dark.

* * *

Everything was far too bright.

John squinted, eyelids fluttering as he drifted back into consciousness. The blinding, sterile glare of the fluorescent lights hanging overhead greeted him. John tried to prop himself up, only to find one of his arms and his leg wrapped in plaster casts. His blazer and vest were gone, the sleeves of his bloodstained shirt rolled up to reveal bandaged arms.

Evie and Roland sat in the nearby chairs, joined by a brown-haired boy John didn’t recognize. When they saw he was awake, they gestured to Doc, who came to him with a tonic.

“I’m going to need you to drink this, okay John?” he said.

With his dominant arm in a cast, and his blurry vision, it took John a couple tries to grasp the cup properly, but he managed to drink all of it. He set the glass down, resting his aching head against the wall.

“Are you alright, John?” Evie said hesitantly.

“I’m fine,” John bluntly replied. “Thanks for the help.”

Evie fell silent. The tension in the room was palpable. Roland coughed.

“Blyke was here earlier,” he said. “He left to report the incident to Vaughn.”

John didn’t reply to that. He dipped into old memories, searching for a certain one. He hated looking back at his times in first-year, but he needed to confirm something.

“Roland, back in first year, I beat you up, didn’t I?” John said slowly. “That was why you were so scared that day in the infirmary.”

Roland hesitated. “... Yes. It was only once. I’ve long since stopped caring about it.”

“You shouldn’t,” John said. He looked down at his bandaged hands. “I’ve only recently started changing. Until second-year, I didn’t give a shit about anyone other than myself. Even after that, I didn’t bother to help anyone but Sera.”

“John, you were raised as a high-tier,” Evie said. “You couldn’t have known-“

“I did!” John snapped. “My dad is a cripple! Most of my family are low-tiers! I knew better than any other high-tier!”

“Besides, being a high-tier shouldn’t absolve me of any responsibility,” John said. “That only lets this kind of behaviour continue.”

He shook his head. Wanting to change the subject, he turned to the brown-haired boy, who was sitting there the whole time in silence.

“I really appreciate the help back there.” John said tiredly. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Terrence,” the boy stuttered. “I overheard them talking about beating you up, so I went to find some help. We found Blyke, and told him what was going on.”

“I appreciate it,” John said. “If you hadn’t gotten the others, I’d probably still be back there.”

“Well, you helped us before, so might as well return the favour,” Terrence said.

Evie nodded. “A lot of us are thankful for your help, John.”

John didn't reply to that. All of them sat in awkward silence until the school bell tolled, capturing Terrence's attention.

"So... We should get to class," Terrence said. "I hope you feel better soon, John."

"Yeah," John said faintly. "Once again, thanks for all of your help."

* * *

Sera opened the door to the school, knowing that no one would’ve noticed her absence, nor would question why her blazer was scattered with splashes of red.

The mid-tiers were at that house, but John was gone. If I had to guess, someone else found him before I did, and brought him to the infirmary.

Sera briskly walked through the school, swinging open the door to the infirmary. Doc looked up from his phone and gestured to a bed. Following his lead, Sera turned on her heel, and walked around the corner, coming to an abrupt stop.

He was even worse than Sera had feared. Sensing her presence, John turned. A weak smile crossed his face.

“How the turntables, huh?” he laughed. “Looks like you’re the one visiting me in the infirmary now.”

“John...” Sera began.

“A couple mid-tiers caught me off guard yesterday,” John said, dragging his fingers through his tangled hair. “They ganged up on me, and knocked me out.”

“I heard,” Sera said. “They beat you up all night.”

“I’ll be fine,” John said, averting his gaze. “Doc said the worst of my injuries should be healed by tomorrow. The mid-tiers wanted to teach me a lesson.”

“You helped them, and they repaid you by beating you up.” Sera said, voice cold.

“I beat them up first,” John said. “Back when I was King.”

His eyes grew distant. “No matter how much I try to avoid that part of my past, it always comes back, huh?”

Sera glanced away. She resonated with that, more than John would ever know.

_It does._

“Besides,” John said, shaking his head. “You’ve gotten hurt far worse than this. Remember that time that girl with the fire ability got you? That was a messy time.”

“Stop,” Sera said. “Just because I’ve gotten hurt doesn’t mean that your pain doesn’t matter. What those mid-tiers did wasn’t right. You might’ve done bad things in the past, but you’re trying to better yourself now.”

Her voice softened. “You’re allowed to be upset by this, John.”

John’s smile dipped ever-so slightly, cracks forming in his facade. “They didn’t even care about any potential consequences, they hated me that much. They just wanted a chance to get revenge.”

Sera wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Maybe I deserve to be on the receiving end of things. After all the terrible things I did to them, it was about time my luck caught up with me.”

Cautiously, she stepped towards him, and slowly wrapped her arms around John’s broken body, clasping him tightly.

John’s facade finally broke. He shuddered, burying his face deep into Sera’s blazer as he began to cry. Sera didn’t say anything, instead just holding him. She glanced down, at her scraped hands.

_I can’t tell him. Not while he’s like this. Telling him now would break him._

_He doesn’t need to know._

The door to the infirmary clicked open. Arlo was there. 

John quickly pulled away from Sera, scrubbing at his eyes. He sat up, trying to look as composed as possible, which was difficult considering his red-rimmed eyes and bandage laden body.

When Arlo saw John, his eyes widened for a moment, before quickly becoming a mask of calm. Arlo swiftly walked up. “Blyke informed me of what happened. How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” John curtly replied.

“What those mid-tiers did was despicable,” Arlo said. “I’ll be sure to handle them.”

_So he has a bit of pity to spare for John._

John glanced away. Clearly, neither of them were in the mood for beginning any arguments, leaving an awkward tension between them instead.

“Why are you offering to help me?” John finally said. “Last I checked, you never help anyone.”

Sera watched him. She placed a hand on John’s shoulder. “... You should get some rest, John. I know from experience that tonics kick in faster with some rest, and last night can’t have been comfortable.”

She turned to Arlo, shooting him a glare. Too quiet for John to hear, she muttered. “You. Me. Classroom now.”

Disgruntled, Arlo followed her after. As soon as they left the infirmary, Sera dragged them to the nearest empty classroom.

Arlo shut the door behind them. “Students have completely lost respect for the hierarchy. Torturing a Royal like that is despicable.”

“Glad we can both agree on something,” Sera said sarcastically. “You did an _outstanding_ job helping look for him Arlo.”

“No one informed me of what happened until after the fact,” Arlo said, teeth clenched. “I’m not sure what you want me to do.”

“I don’t know, maybe notice when the Ace goes missing after being targeted for over a week?”

“I thought John could handle himself,” Arlo said, growing annoyed. “You tell me to stay away from both of you and then get mad when I do just that?”

“That isn’t the point,” Sera snapped. “I ask that you to actually give a shit about what happens to John, and you even fail at that.”

“Regardless of what you think, I do care about John’s wellbeing,” Arlo snapped. “While we may not get along anymore, the matter of the fact is that John and I were once fellow Elites.”

“Once,” Sera said. “You sure do an excellent job at driving people away from you, don’t you?”

“This never would’ve happened if you both just took your rightful places as high-tiers!”

“Really? You’re bringing this up again?” Sera yelled. “What’re you going to do if I don’t take my rightful place? Are you going to drag me out to the Turf Wars field again and beat the shit of me? Maybe even do the same to John?”

“I wanted to live away from the rankings! I let you rule your pretty little kingdom! I minded my business! But no, you had to destroy all of that!” she continued.

“You’re neglecting your responsibility as an Elite! You and John both! Why can’t you just understand that!?” Arlo shouted back.

“I’ve made it clear where I stand on the matter,” Sera said. “John was miserable as King.”

“He wasn’t miserable until you came around,” Arlo shot back. His expression grew tense. “John... John and I were once teammates, _friends_. Then _you_ came and corrupted him with your foolish ideals.”

“Maybe I did!” Sera said. “But at least he’s actually happy now!”

“And look where that brought us,” Arlo snapped.

“You. Caused. This.” Sera ranted, punctuating each sentence with a stomp of her foot. “This isn’t even about John anymore. You never know when to stop. Everyone tells you to back down, and you never listen, because you think because you know better than everyone else!”

She gestured wildly around her. “And it’s not even just you. No one in school knows how to behave! Isen dug into my private records! Blyke shot a beam at my head! Elaine only backed off when she discovered what my ability was!”

“None of you even try to fix the problems around school,” Sera said, expression souring. “Even John barely did anything until his suspension. Once he did, everyone turned on him. Why? Because everyone’s grown compliant.”

Arlo slammed his hands on the desk. “At least I try to keep things afloat! But no, whenever something goes wrong, you use me as a scapegoat!

The Press Team isn’t under my jurisdiction, yet somehow it’s my fault when Cecile publishes an article you don’t like. When John gets kidnapped by mid-tiers I’ve never spoken to, it’s my fault for not noticing. I can’t win with you!”

“Please,” Sera said. “You love to talk about how I use all my power for nothing, but you’re just as bad as me. You could end all of this here by actually enforcing some authority, but no, the hierarchy needs to remain steadfast.”

“I enforce this order so that everyone can live as peacefully as possible.” Arlo snapped. “Don’t blame me for picking up an irregularity like you and wanting to understand it.

Besides, you really think you can hide this from John forever?” Arlo warned. “While I’ve done some less than good things, at least I haven’t lied to him for the past year.” Anger boiled over her, flooding her veins with magma. “Screw you, Arlo.”

“Hate me all you want, but I’m telling you how it is,” Arlo said. “You really think he won’t be upset, when he finds out? This perfect world you built up is falling apart at the seams. I recommend you tell John before someone else does.”

Sera ground her teeth. She turned on her heel, swiftly walking out of the room. Sera slammed the door behind her, the hinges nearly breaking.

_**They tore down my world.** _

_**I’ll tear down theirs.** _

_**But first, some answers.** _

Sera stormed down the hallways, heading for the Press Room. Juni had written a couple articles for the school paper before, so she must have some kind of ties to the Press Team. Sera opened the door to the Press Room, where a teal-haired girl sat, going through articles. Upon seeing Sera, she drew to her feet.

“Seraphina, correct?” Cecile said. “My name is Cecile, head of the Press Team.”

Sera’s eyes narrowed. “You allowed that article on John.”

“I did,” Cecile replied. “And what did it do? It unveiled the truth. As part of the Press Team, that’s what I strive for.”

“Whatever. I was looking for one of your writers, Juni,” Sera said.

“She stopped by earlier,” Cecile said, voice carefully measured. She gave Sera a knowing look. “With some interesting news.”

Sera stilled.

_… She knows too._

Her eyes glowed. Time stopped. To Cecile’s credit, she didn’t even blink, though a drop of sweat rolled down her face.

“How did you find out about me?” Sera said, eyes glowing.

“You recall Isen’s interview, do you not?” Cecile said. “He mentioned something about an interesting article that was supposed to be on the school cripple a couple weeks ago, only for it to never come to fruition. Then, another Juni heard you and Arlo arguing. Something was up. I investigated.”

“You dug through my personal records,” Sera said coldly. “I’m guessing you also sent Juni after me?”

“I did what I had to do,” Cecile said. “As head of the Press Team, I have eyes and ears all over the school. I know that you’re a god-tier, and a former Queen at that. Why are you hiding yourself?”

“None of your business,” Sera said. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t tell anyone.”

“I wasn’t intending to,” Cecile said. “I came to you with an offer in mind. You know, I used to be a Queen myself.”

_Right. Cecile was Queen back in second-year until Remi dethroned her._

“You must not be a rather large fan of the Royals,” Sera said. “Getting scorned by John must’ve hurt, with him choosing Blyke over you.”

“Not just that, though John is incredibly bothering,” Cecile said. “Remi’s going to run Wellston into the ground at this rate. While I’m not strong enough to dethrone her, you are.”

“I have no interest in joining the Royals,” Sera said. “If that’s what you came to me for, then you’re out of luck.”

“You don’t have to overthrow just Remi,” Cecile said. “You could tear down the Royals altogether, rebuilding from the ground up. John as King. You as Queen. And I as Jack.”

“And they would take that sitting down?”

“They would if the school backed us up,” Cecile said. “You’ve seen how disillusioned Wellston became with John with a single article. The same could be done to the Royals. What do you say?”

Sera paused at that, considering her options.

Cracks were forming in Wellston’s foundation. People were showing their true colours, how they really felt about the hierarchy. All they would need was a little push, someone to validate them.

She didn’t have to be Queen. She didn’t even want to be Queen. All she wanted to see was the Royals, especially Arlo, burnt to ashes.

And she had an idea how to do that.

“I accept.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And close!
> 
> I'm going to be honest, I had a lot of trouble with the last three chapters. This sequence of events was more or less planned from the start, but I had trouble writing it. Hopefully things roll smoother from here. As a quick fun fact, this and Breaking Point was originally supposed to be one chapter, but uh, the word count got higher than expected. It be like that sometimes.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	12. Time Slips By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John struggles, and plans are made.

John collapsed onto his bed, trying to distract his mind from the incessant itching coming from the cast on his arm. It’d been ages since he’d gotten badly hurt enough to warrant wearing one, and he was already remembering why he disliked it so much. Even with Doc’s tonics, it’d take a while for his body to heal fully.

_I probably looked pretty pathetic, coming in looking like that._

John pressed his lips together tightly. His eyes stung.

_No. You’re not going to cry again._

Instead, John rolled off his bed, and lifted the mattress. Hidden within a thin slit cut into the mattress was Unordinary. John doubted anyone would think to look for it there. John slid the book out and leaned against his bed, opening the book to its first page.

_“I liked how the hero was powerful, yet remained altruistic. Even though he had all this power at his fingertips, he never used it to propel himself further in life. He knew that everyone had valuable something to offer, and he could help those who needed a voice.”_

Recalling Sera’s words from their long-passed conversation, John began to reread Unordinary, finding himself comforted by the familiarity of the tale. It was difficult to flip the pages with his right hand in a cast, but he made it work.

He was about to finish the third chapter when a knock came at the door. John frantically shoved the book under his mattress. “Come in!”

The door opened, revealing Blyke. He glanced at John’s broken arm, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you feeling alright?”

“... Yeah. Thanks for helping me out earlier. ” John said, shifting away from him. He laughed awkwardly. “It must’ve been pretty shocking, seeing beat up like that.”

John could tell his attempt at lightening the mood fell flat. Blyke sat on the floor, close to John.

“Look...” Blyke began uneasily. “I know you’ve been going through a lot of things in the past few weeks, but I’m really getting worried about you. You’ve been running off all over the place, and with the article dropping, and now this...”

John didn’t respond at first, instead staring at the ground. “It must seem pretty weird from an outside perspective, huh?”

“Yeah.”

John sighed. “During my last week of suspension, a group of mid-tiers attacked me, and tried to abduct me. While I got away, I suspect they had intentions on stabbing me with some kind of ability nullifier.”

“... Okay then,” Blyke blinked. “I didn’t expect that, but alright.”

“It must sound pretty weird.” Despite everything, John laughed. “They likely tracked me through that transmitter you found. Not much has come from the case.”

“That’s all there really is to it,” John shrugged. “Unordinary gave me a new perspective. I wanted to help others when I got back. I realized that I had so much power, but I never lifted a finger to help anyone.”

“The situation in the lower tiers...” Blyke sighed. “It’s a lot worse than any of us thought. Even I didn’t realize how bad it was until Remi’s er... trip as a vigilante. They’ve lost all trust in us, haven’t they?”

“They have,” John said. “It probably doesn’t help that I beat up a bunch of them back in first year when I was trying to become King. A lot of them think I have an ulterior motive.”

“Well, you’re not alone,” Blyke said. “We can fix this. I can help, and so can Remi and Isen. We can find a way to make things better.”

John stared down at the ground. "... Yeah. We can."

* * *

For the next few days, John skipped school. The last he wanted to do was return to school, where everyone would stare and demand answers. The talk he had to have with Vaughn had been bad enough.

Sera visited him each day after school, dropping off his schoolwork. Both of them made it a point not to mention anything about what had happened in the last few days, instead pretending that John was just ill.

When John finally returned, the piercing stares of other students followed him. No doubt that stories of his beating had traveled around the school. Confirmation of that fact arose when he reached the school bulletin board.

Pinned in the centre was a picture of him, battered and covered in blood, being helped to the infirmary by Blyke and the others. Without a word, John plucked the photo off the board and tore it to shreds.

“What’s wrong, Johnny?” Zeke’s teasing lilt filled his ears. “Are you still hurt?”

John didn’t respond.

“It really seems that you can’t fight with no powers,” Zeke said. “Is that why you abandoned the title of King? If I challenged you right now, what would happ-“

John spun, and punched Zeke square in the face. Zeke shouted an expletive, clutching his nose as he backed up. John rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.

“You want a fight?” he growled. “Let’s go.”

The hall quieted. John activated his ability, scanning for anything. Nothing. The students wanted to see what would happen. Zeke himself didn’t activate his ability, instead cracking his knuckles.

Zeke attacked first, and John blocked his punch. Unlike mid-tiers, Zeke likely had some form of combat training that was bestowed upon most Elites. Either way, John had years of experience from Turf Wars, even if he was out of practice.

John grabbed Zeke’s arm, and punched him in the stomach with his free hand. Zeke grimaced. He ducked, dodging another blow from John. Zeke went for one of John’s legs, kicking it as hard as he could.

Stinging pain ran through John's shin. John blocked another punch, retaliating with a knee to the groin. Zeke fell back, coughing. It quickly became clear that in terms of hand to hand combat, John surpassed him.

John threw another punch, and panic fluttered across Zeke’s face. A blue glow cloaked him, shielding him from John's attack. There was a crack, and John frowned at his bloody knuckles. His eyes glowed.

“And here I thought we weren’t using powers.”

Using Phase Shift, John shifted to attack form, swinging a leg into Zeke’s stomach. Zeke flew back into the wall. All the students near him frantically backed up. With Phase Shift activated, John broke through Zeke’s defense form with ease, throwing attack after attack.

Fear danced across Zeke’s face. “Look John, I just-“

“You just what?” John said. “Wanted to beat the shit out of me? Guess what bastard- you’re out of luck.”

John threw him to the ground, pinning him down with a knee to the chest. John threw punch after punch, one satisfying wet thud after the other coming from Zeke. Blood splattered all over his pristine white shirt, his blazer, his face.

Zeke grew unconscious sometime after the tenth punch. John kept on hitting. The students whispered uneasily, watching the one-sided match. John kept on flinging punches.

“John.”

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder. John glanced up.

“We should go,” Remi said. “We’re going to be late for class.”

She didn’t say a word about Zeke. John bit his lip. Dropping Zeke onto the ground, John straightened himself, rolling his blazer sleeves back down. Together, both of them left.

“Those mid-tiers who captured me,” John said. “Where are they? I want to have a talk with them.”

“You haven’t heard? They were hospitalized.”

“... What?”

“Someone found them half beaten to death,” Remi said. “I don’t think they’ll be returning to school anytime soon.”

* * *

Instead of paying attention to his classes that morning, John thought about what Remi had mentioned. All the school knew his capture at the hands of the mid-tiers at this point, meaning any of them could’ve done it.

_Who though?_

In order to take down a pack of mid-tiers, the person would at least to be an elite-tier, likely one of the more powerful ones. That narrowed the options down considerably.

_Blyke didn’t mention anything yesterday, and I don’t see him, Remi or Isen as being the types to that. Elaine or Abel wouldn’t have the power to do it. It definitely wasn’t Zeke, and I’m nowhere near close enough friends with Holden, Meili or Ventus for them to go out on a limb for me like that._

_Arlo..._

_John bit back a laugh. Arlo would be the last person to help him._

_How ridiculous._

After receiving his lunch, John scanned the cafeteria, looking for a few choice students. Blyke had given a more thorough explanation on how he’d found John during his capture, and he wanted to thank the others for that. Instead of heading directly to the rooftop, he approached the table where Evie, Roland and Terrence sat.

“Hey,” he said awkwardly. “Do you guys want to sit on the rooftop with me and Sera?”

The table fell silent. All three of them stared at him.

“Sure,” Terrence said, getting up. “We’d be happy to.”

* * *

John opened the door to the rooftop. Abel was sitting by the gate, keeping watch as always. Abel’s expression soured at the sight of Evie and the others, but a glare from John caused him to look away. John took a seat at his usual spot, and the other three joined him.

“Wow,” Evie said. “The rooftop is even better than I imagined!”

“That’s right,” John said. “You’ve never been up here, have you?”

“Nope,” Roland confirmed, gazing through the gate. “The view is really nice from up here.”

There was a murmur of agreement from Terrance. John looked down at his tray.

_With how much time I spend up here, I almost forget it’s locked off to non-Elites._

_Just another problem in this messed up school..._

“Something bothering you?” Evie said.

“... A lot of things,” John said. “How this school is run. It’s fucked up how you three have to do all that extra stuff, just to get beat up, anyway.”

“We’re used to it,” Terrence said, shrugging. “You learn to just take it. Fighting back just makes it worse.”

John didn’t answer.

_There’s got to be a better way to fix this. Even if I stop the fights, the actual issues run a lot deeper than I thought._

_Maybe if I become King again…_

_**“Rei attempted to restrict the amount of violence in school. He made the strong be lenient, and the weak confident. In actuality, all he did was make the weak prideful, and the strong angered. Because of his immense power, all of us had to listen to him.”** _

John rubbed his forehead.

_Aargh… Why is all of this so difficult!? It’s not like life can get much worse for the low-tiers!_

Roland coughed, breaking John’s immersion into his thoughts.

“Anyway. Terrence, do you know why a bunch of us keep on getting approaching for interviews lately? I’ve been talking with a couple of the others.”

“Oh?” Terrence said. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask your brother? Isn’t he a member of the Press Team?”

“Ah...” Roland frowned down at his lunch tray.

“It was a girl who approached us,” Evie quickly interjected. “She had green hair, in these two buns?”

“Most likely Juni then,” Terrence said. “She’s always planning something. She has written some good articles. I’ll check later.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

The conversation dissolved into idle topics, and John glanced at the doorway now and then, waiting for Sera to pass through. Noticing John’s detachment, Evie tapped his shoulder.

“What’s up?” she said.

“Sera’s late,” John said. “It’s weird. She’s usually here before me. Maybe she got cornered again.”

Again, Evie and Roland exchanged uneasy looks. John stared at them.

“Are you two alright?” he said. “No offense, but you two don’t seem to like Sera too much.”

“It’s not that we don’t like her!” Evie said frantically. “It’s just- just-“

“She kind of scares us,” Roland admitted. “We’ve tried to befriend her a couple times. Us low-tiers stick together, you know? But when we asked...”

He shuddered. “She just glared at us, in a kind of condescending way. Like she was superior compared to us lowlifes for befriending the mighty Ace.”

“We might’ve misread the situation, though!” Evie tacked on. “We’re not trying to insult her or anything! She just kind of gave us some weird vibes.”

She fiddled with one of her pigtails. “I spoke to her a couple times a few days ago. She seems kind of detached lately.”

_Sera?_

_She probably could’ve taken all the mid-tiers on if she tackled them one by one. And she seemed angry about what had happened to me..._

A chill ran down his spine.

“That sounds odd,” John said. “I’ll try speaking to her about it. I’m sure you three would like her a lot.”

He stood up, empty lunch tray in hand. “I’m going to go see if she’s in the infirmary.”

* * *

“How’s the article going?”

Sera leaned on one desk, awaiting Cecile’s answer.

“Interviews take time, Seraphina,” Cecile replied. “It’ll be finished in a few days. Juni here is a great help.”

She gestured beside her, where Juni stood. Juni shifted nervously. “Most low-tiers trust me, and no one passes up the opportunity to be in the school paper.”

Sera ignored her. She wasn’t a fan of Juni at all. She was a stalker, and someone who was willing to do anything for her own gain. Simply put, Sera didn’t trust any mid-tier with a personal agenda in mind.

“Very well,” Sera sighed. “After the article is ready, we can move onto the next part of the plan. Do you have the files?”

Cecile held up a pile of printed-off papers, each neatly stapled into several packets. “I took a page out of Isen’s book.”

“Excellent,” Sera said, taking the papers from her. “I’ll be taking my leave then.”

She exited the Press Room, keeping a conscious eye out for any potential onlookers. The last thing she wanted was for another person like Juni to catch drift of her planning something.

“Sera!”

John ran up to her. “Why were you in the Press Room?”

“Just wanted to ask Cecile something. I heard you beat up Zeke this morning,” Sera said, quickly changing subjects. “Did he provoke you?”

“He was being a dick again,” John confirmed. “Remi had to pry me off him.”

“Why? Didn’t he attack you first?”

“It got messy,” John said. “If Remi didn’t stop me when he did, I probably would’ve sent him to the hospital.”

“He deserved it.”

An uneasy silence fell over both of them. John broke it.

“Yeah, he probably did."

He shoved his hands into his pockets discomfort dancing across his features. "Sera, do know what happened to the mid-tiers that beat me up? I heard they were hospitalized."

Sera kept her expression perfectly neutral. "Yeah. It happened while you were sick. I don't who did it. I wish I could've helped, though. I wouldn't mind tossing a couple punches at them."

"Right." John relaxed. "Do you want to go to the mall or something?”

“Skipping your afternoon classes?” Sera said. “You haven’t done that in a while.”

“I want to get away from the school for a bit,” John said. He gestured lamely. “It’s too much.”

“Sure, then. Let’s go.”

* * *

Sera stepped onto the escalators, weighty shopping bags in hand. John looked like he already regretted bringing up the mall as an option. He seemed to be in a much better mood though, with the respite of classes.

As they stepped off the escalator, John cast a wayward glance to where the ability to gauge stand used to be. “To think all of this started over a teddy bear. Seems crazy, huh?”

“Crazy indeed,” Sera agreed. “The authorities still haven’t gotten back to you on that one?”

“If I had to guess, I’m completely off their radar now,” John sighed. “I didn’t actually get hurt, so they didn’t see it as a huge priority.”

“Did you find anything out from your chat with Remi?” Sera said.

“A bit,” John said. “She confirmed that there were ability amplifiers. Nothing about dampeners, though. There’s not much else we can do at the moment.”

“Ah,” Sera said. “That’s not good.”

“I just want some answers,” John sighed. “Either way, I’ve got a bad feeling about this whole thing.”

_You and me both._

“Anyway,” John said. “Lately, I’ve been trying to think of better ways to help the school.”

“You’re still going to fight mid-tiers?” Sera said. "After that?"

“Well-” John let out a frustrated groan. “I want to continue helping low-tiers. I’ll just be more on guard from now on. Maybe I’ll teach some low-tiers self-defense. I can’t catch all the fights, after all.”

“Ah,” Sera said. “That could work. Or you could help them with ability growth. You can amp abilities. Do that and help them innovate.”

“Oh, that is a good idea!” John said. “I don’t know if some of them have already maxed out in mastery, though. I’d have to ask.”

He glanced at her. “Do you want to help with the self-defense angle? You have experience with innovation.”

“Me?” Sera said. “Aren’t you pretty well trained in physical combat too?”

“Well, yeah, but I figured it’d be better with two people than one,” John shrugged.

“I think you’ll be able to handle it just fine,” Sera assured. “I’ve been busy lately, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to join.”

“Is that why you were at the Press Room earlier?” A teasing smile curved across John’s lips. “Do you have secret friends you’re hiding from me?”

“Maybe.” Sera teased back.

“Well, neither of us are alone anymore,” John said. “Blyke and Remi agreed to help around school as well. Ever since my er... thing... they realized how bad it was.”

Sera’s smile slipped off her face.

_After letting low-tiers get beat up every day, it takes a Royal getting kidnapped for them to care._

_What if it had been me, or some other student? Nothing would’ve changed._

“Why don’t head out and grab some boba?” Sera said, trying to keep the hollowness out of her voice.

* * *

“Here you go.”

The server handed both of them their boba tea. John took a long sip of his mango boba, glancing out the window. “Geez. It’s been way too long since I’ve had boba.”

Sera stared down at her own drink. John was in a far better mood compared to his withdrawn demeanor in the last few days. With what she had planned, this was probably the best time.

“John...” Sera began. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Yeah?” John said distractedly. “What is it?”

Sera opened her mouth to answer, but her voice caught in her throat.

_How would he react?_

Her mind darted to everyone who knew her secret. Juni. Cecile. Arlo. Meili. Ventus. Elaine. Isen.

_Fear. Revulsion. Distaste. That’s how everyone acts around me once they discover the truth._

_What if he’s the same?_

Sera stared down at her boba tea. Her mind leapt to awful conclusions as to what could happen. John gets angry and argues with her. Or he grows cold, never speaking to her ever again. He leaves her all alone. All that and more swamped her mind in moments, convincing her of the path to take.

_It isn’t worth the risk. Once he knows, nothing will be the same anymore._

“Sera?” John said, waving a hand. “Everything good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sera lied.

“You said you wanted to tell me something?”

“Ah, right,” Sera said. She’d have to come up with something on the spot. “I... I’m thinking of getting rid of my extensions.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Change of pace,” Sera said, waving a hand. “It’s time to switch things up.”

“Fair enough,” John said. He tugged on a strand of blue hair. “I can’t really judge.”

Sera was about to reply, but the television caught her attention. The usual reporter was on the news, reporting another EMBER death.

“The vigilante ‘Venom’ was discovered dead in an alleyway in West Wellston. The body was left badly burnt and branded with the infamous flame logo. Let’s see what the authorities have to say.”

The camera cut in, showing the image of the body. Though their face was blocked out, the body was visibly ravaged, covered in fern-like burns and deep wounds. As always, there was an EMBER brand on their lower abdomen.

“Another one bites the dust,” Sera said. “Weren’t they caught on film a few times?”

“Yeah. Had some kind of poison ability,” John said, taking a sip of his drink. “EMBER’s been going after a lot of vigilantes these days...”

Any good mood they’d built up rapidly dissipated, and Sera saw it fit to change the subject.

“So, have you played any Angry Pigs lately?”

* * *

“Today was fun.” John said. “We should do it again sometime.”

“We should,” Sera agreed.

_Soon, everything will be over. The hierarchy will be gone. The Royals will get what they deserve._

_John and I can finally spend the rest of our days in peace._

_Everything will be perfect._

Sera looked up at John.

_He never has to find out. He doesn’t need to see this side of me. He doesn't have to see me act like that._

_**You can’t hide this from him forever. When he finds out, he’ll see just how much of a monster you are.** _

“Sera!”

John grabbed her shoulders, looking at her worriedly. “Sera? Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Sera said. She lifted a hand to her cheek, finding it wet.

_I’m crying?_

“I’m fine,” Sera said. “I’m just going to miss these times.”

“Me too,” John said cautiously. He bit his lip, expression troubled. “Sera... You know you can tell me anything, right? You’ve been kind of distant lately.”

Sera didn’t answer.

“I know I’ve kind of lost my touch lately.” John scratched his neck. “You’re really strong, you know? Even after everything that happened, you’ve never broken.”

_He can never know. He can never learn that I’ve lied to him all this time._

She looked into John’s eyes.

_I can’t let him down like this._

“I’ve just been busy,” Sera lied, wiping her face. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Don’t worry about it."

* * *

Time slipped by as the next two weeks passed, one day after the other.

-

“Otis.”

“Yes?”

“Monitor Juni, please. If you overhear her mentioning anything odd to Isen or the Royals, please inform me.”

“... Huh?”

“Just do it.”

-

“You block the punch like that, and then- there. Punch them like that.”

“Oh! I see! Thanks John!”

“It’s nothing, Evie. You can use some of that against any mid-tiers that come your way.”

-

“Wellston. Keep an eye out on Target 93. Do not expose yourself to him.”

“Noted.”

“Any other news on potential recruits?”

“None so far.”

-

“Hey Remi, I was wondering. If you got struck by lightning, like, thunderstorm lightning, would it hurt?”

“... What the hell, Isen?”

“Shut up, Blyke! The question was for Remi!”

“That’s actually a good question. I don’t think so? Especially if my ability is activated...”

-

“One mask? That’s all?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. Fifteen dollars.”

-

* * *

Sera sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at the mask in her hands.

She could call Cecile now. Stop it from happening. She could pretend everything was normal and spend the rest of her time the same way as before.

But Sera didn’t want to do that anymore. They had pushed her over the edge, and now she was tumbling down the side, gaining momentum. There was no way to stop now.

Sera glared down at the mask, fingers tightening.

_They deserve it._

* * *

“So what do you think, Isen? Does it sound like a good idea?”

“I mean-” Isen took another sip of his milk. “I don't know. It sounds risky to me, but I could maybe get an article out if you’re that passionate about it.”

“Thanks, man,” Blyke said. “I appreciate it.”

“Aw, shut u-“

Isen’s expression shifted abruptly. His eyes stared at a poster plastered on the school bulletin board. Blyke followed his gaze.

“... What the hell?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo, I'm back! Hope everyone's doing well. Life's been busy lately- I've got a chem exam tomorrow, and I'm starting a new semester of school after that. Update schedule should remain consistent though.
> 
> As a quick aside, thanks so much for all the support everyone has given me so far. I'm really happy that this people are enjoying this fic :)
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	13. Smear Campaign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More inflammatory articles are dropped. An interrogation occurs.

Two large posters were plastered right in the centre of the school bulletin board. One had Arlo’s picture on it, the other Remi’s. Students clustered around the board, though they parted once Isen and Blyke approached them.

The content of the posters were even worse than what Blyke thought they would be. They were filled with accusations against Remi, ranging from her being an oblivious, detached airhead, to her willingly ignoring the bullying going on in their school. Testimonials from mid and low-tiers ‘confirmed’ it.

Arlo’s poster wasn’t any better. It was worse- stories of him using his barrier to intimidate students into submission was a dime a dozen. The article further extrapolated from there, talking about Arlo was a tyrant King, who abused his power to enforce restrictive order upon the school.

Blyke clenched his jaw and unceremoniously ripped down both of the posters, crumpling them into one large ball. “We can’t let Remi see these.”

“Can’t let me see what?”

Remi walked up, a confused expression on her face. Isen swiveled around.

“It’s nothing,” he lied. “Let’s just head to class.”

Swiftly, all three of them headed to class, Isen and Blyke keeping a sharp eye out for any more posters about her or Arlo.

“Dammit.” Blyke breathed.

There was another poster pinned to the wall, this time plastered with Isen’s image. Further down the hall, he saw one with him, and another with Remi’s again. Remi followed his gaze, her eyes widening when she saw the contents of the posters. She snapped one off the wall, reading it.

“What the hell!?” Isen hissed, reading the poster on him. “Apparently I use my influence as an elite-tier to get top articles!? Bitch, I work hard on those!”

“I’m a naive airhead who ignores everything around her?” Remi murmured quietly, reading the accusations leveled against her.

Blyke stared down at his own poster, one accusing him of being a reckless prick who nearly blew people’s brains out over the smallest slight. Realization dawned on him.

“This is a smear campaign. Someone’s trying to defame all of us.”

* * *

The Press Room was awash with nervous buzzing, everyone discussing the posters all around school. Posters like that were sure to net them some trouble, even if it wasn’t explicitly connected to the Press Team. Anyone with half a brain cell could tell it was a coordinated effort, and that implicated them.

“Cecile.”

The entire room fell silent as Arlo strode in, paper in hand. He came to a stop in front of Cecile, who didn’t speak a word.

Arlo slammed the poster down on the table, hard enough that the wood splintered.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“It’s a paper on how low-tiers feel about the hierarchy at Wellston,” Cecile said, choosing her words carefully. “It seems a couple anonymous writers wrote it.”

Towards the back of the classroom, Juni nervously inched towards the door.

“I’ve been lenient with you all this time, because we once teammates,” Arlo said. “You insulted Rei and Remi, and I let it slide because we were once teammates. You then publish an invasive article about John, I let it go because he handled it himself. Now you go after multiple Elites like this? You’ve run out of chances.”

“The article has nothing to do with the Press Team,” Cecile said. “It isn’t under my jurisdiction.”

“Cecile, do you take me for an idiot?” Arlo’s voice was soft, but deadly. “You control the information flow around the school, and you expect me to believe that you had no idea that a large-scale effort like this was happening right under your nose?”

“I didn-“

“I gave you a job, and you’ve failed me,” Arlo said. “So, you clearly aren’t fit for this position.”

He snapped his head to the side. “Isen! From now on, you’ll be leading the school press in Cecile’s place. I expect you to do a decent job.”

Isen looked terrified. “Hold a sec-“

“Really!?” Cecile interrupted. “You’re going to demote me when my rank is higher than his!? I’ve run the school press for three years now!”

“And now Isen is in charge,” Arlo said. “It’s time for a change in leadership, since you clearly can’t be trusted to control the information flow.”

“You can’t just barge in here and do whatever you want!” Cecile snapped.

“I believe I can,” Arlo said. “Unless you’d like to challenge me.”

Cecile balled her fists, jaw clenched. A malachite aura flickered around her, eyes glowing violet as she raised a hand.

“MAYBE I WILL!”

Cecile held out her arm, unleashing a barrage of emerald vines.

* * *

“You couldn’t have expected that to go well at all. For a former Queen, you really aren’t the most intelligent, Cecile.”

Cecile glared up at Seraphina. Bandages wrapped her lacerated arms and face, all a product of Arlo’s reflective barrier. He’d humiliated her in front of the Press Team, then banned her from all premises pertaining to the school paper.

“Stop chastising me,” she said, tone dry. “I just had a last bit of authority stripped away from me. I’m sorry I’m upset about that.”

Seraphina tilted her head. Her extensions were gone, leaving short strands of magenta curling around her cheeks.

“You’ll have it back soon enough,” she assured. “By the sound of things, all Arlo did was dump gasoline on the fire. How do you think the students will react when they hear he demoted, then banned the student who dared write anything but a positive article on him? It’s almost like an abuse of power.”

“It’s going to take more than some papers to stir the school into a frenzy,” Cecile said. “Even if they hate the Royals, there’s not much that they can do. Not with Arlo having his ability to keep people in check.”

“They just need something to rally behind,” Seraphina said. “I despise all the students in this school, but they can be useful. You saw what happened with John. The moment they find a weakness, even the most mighty can fall from grace. These papers are only the beginning.”

“When are you going to move onto the next phase of the plan?” Cecile said.

“Soon,” Seraphina said. “Now that they’re uneasy, they’ll need some time to absorb the information. I’ll strike then.”

Overhead, static crackled, a voice coming through the PA system. “Seraphina, please come to the Headmaster’s office.”

The voice repeated the message twice more, before shutting off. Seraphina glanced up at the speaker, faint surprise flickering over her face.

_Does the Headmaster wish to speak to me about the article? That can’t even be traced back to me yet._

“I believe that’s my cue to leave,” Seraphina said. “We’ll discuss matters more later. Until then.”

Sera slipped through the doors of the infirmary, towards Vaughn’s office. She smiled to herself when she saw some posters remained on the walls. For once, she wasn’t even attacked, with students focused on the ongoing discourse surrounding the Elites.

When Sera opened the door to Vaughn’s office, she froze.

Vaughn sat at his armchair. Two people stood behind him. One of them was a middle-aged woman with mint green locks- Nadia, if she had to guess. The other...

“It’s been awhile, Seraphina,” Keon said.

Sera stood stationary in her position. Her hands quivered. Beads of sweat dripped down her face, vicious memories of her readjustment classes slamming into her like a brick.

_-_

_"Know your place, child! I'm a high-ranking official! I won't get tossed around by a power-hungry brat like you!_

_-_

_"You have no remorse? No mercy? Not even on your friends?"_

_-_

_"I'm sure you won't mind taking another look then. From what I've learned, taking a second look can be enlightening."_

_-_

_"Did you finally realize your mistakes?"_

_-_

“Seraphina.”

Vaughn’s measured inflection cut through her panicked thoughts. “Seraphina, are you alright?”

Sera forced her expression to remain neutral. She nodded. “My apologies. I was just thinking of something. You wanted to see me?”

“Indeed. Please take a seat,” Vaughn said, gesturing to the empty seat in front of him. Sera did so.

“This is Mr. Keon,” Vaughn said. “The other Miss Nadia. They represent the authorities, and they’re here to ask you about Unordinary.”

“Fair enough,” Sera said, failing to keep the tremor out of her voice.

With everything that’s happened, I’d forgotten they even intended to come here for me.

Vaughn’s expression softened. “There’s nothing to be worried about, Seraphina. I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding.”

“Yeah...” Sera murmured. “It is.”

“Let’s begin then, shall we?” Nadia said. “As an official interrogation, you’re expected to answer all questions honestly. Any false response detected will result in immediate expulsion.”

Sera only half-listened to her, her primary attention focused on stopping her hands from shaking. When they failed to do so, she glared down at them.

_I’m better than this! Come on!_

“Are you ready, Seraphina?” Nadia said.

“Yes,” Seraphina said. “Begin.”

“Are you currently in possession of any copies of Unordinary?” Keon said.

Sera went still at Keon’s voice. On instinct, her body began shutting down, panic overtaking her systems.

_Come Seraphina, get it together! Those classes were ages ago!_

“No,” Sera finally said.

“How long was the book in your possession before then?”

“Since around its publication,” Sera replied.

“Why did you hold on to it even after it was banned?” Keon said. “If I remember correctly, there was a mass recall.”

“It was a gift,” Sera said. One sentence slipped out after the other. “The person went through all the trouble of getting an advance copy for me, so I wanted to keep it. It held sentimental value to me.”

“Who was it that gave it to you?” Keon said.

“... It was my sister,” Sera said after a moment’s hesitation. “She never read it, if that’s what you’re worried about. It was for me.”

Keon glanced to Nadia, who nodded. “She’s telling the truth, sir.”

Though displeased, Keon continued his interrogation. “Why is that?”

Sera looked down at the table. “After my readjustment classes, I… I wasn’t doing well. I had a hard time dealing with everything I had done.”

Unconsciously, Sera clamped down on her wrists tighter. “My sister and I had not seen each other for years when I first came. Unordinary was her way of trying to help me. The book had not been banned at the time, so she assumed it was perfectly fine.”

Her voice grew softer. “It helped me. I read Unordinary every night.”

“What-!” Keon stood abruptly, slamming his hands on the desk. Sera shrunk back. “Are you out of your damn mind, Seraphina?! What the hell do you think you were doing-!”

“Keon!” Vaughn said sharply. “This the second time you’ve lost your temper in my office. You are a member of the authorities, and I expect you to act like one. I won’t let you harass my students like this.”

“Unordinary goes against the core values of society,” Keon said sharply. “The whole point of readjustment classes was for Seraphina to learn to follow rules!”

“My values haven’t been compromised,” Sera said, finally able to regain her voice. “I have no intention of becoming a superhero. I used the book as affirmation that those powerful worked to make the world better for us.”

“That’s excellent, Seraphina!” Nadia said brightly. “That’s just what the authorities want to do!”

Keon still looked unsure, but pressed on. “To clarify, you don’t agree with Unordinary’s ideals?”

Sera fought to keep a sneer off her face. “Exactly. I have no intention of using my powers to help anyone in this school, and I don’t think we should treat everyone with equal respect. I’ve got more important things to focus on.”

Nadia’s powers finally shut off, and she nodded at Keon. “No lies were told, sir.”

“Very well,” Keon sighed. “How has life at Wellston been, Seraphina?”

“I’ve made some friends,” Sera said. “You’ve already met John. My grades are as high as ever. I rarely, if ever, use my powers. I even moved into the dorms lately.”

“I see,” Keon said. “That’s good to hear. If that’s all, I suppose that concludes our interrogation.”

“Excellent,” Sera said, getting to her feet.

Keon extended a hand. “You’ve made excellent progress, Seraphina. It was good seeing you again.”

Sera stared down at his hand, her own shaking once more. She forced a pleasant smile on her face and shook his ice-cold hand. Afterwards, she quickly turned and exited. As soon as the door shut, Sera collapsed to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

_I’m in control. I’m in control. Get out of my head. I’m fine._

She shakily got to her feet, trying to regain her composure. Sera pressed her fingers to her forehead, intending on spending the rest of the day at her dorm. As she left the office, she ran into John, who was nervously waiting by the doors.

“Hey,” he said. “I overheard that some members of the authorities stopped by. Did they interrogate you?”

“Yep,” Sera muttered. “Just that Keon guy, and Nadia. Wanted to ask me some questions. Nothing happened.”

“Really?” John said. “No suspension or anything?”

“Guess they didn’t see me as a threat,” Sera lied. “Being a cripple has its perks. I can’t really do anything.”

“Your hands are shaking.”

_**... Crap.** _

John grabbed her wrist, expression growing worried. “Sera, what happ-“

“Let go of me!”

Sera wrenched her wrist free, backing up.

“Sorry. I’m still jumpy from the interrogation," she said. "I think I’m just going to go rest in my dorm for a bit.”

She turned, ready to leave.

“Sera!”

John hesitated for a moment. “I know things have been terrible lately. From the interrogations to the article, and now that weird smear campaign against the Royals, I can tell something’s bothering you.”

Sera didn’t reply.

“I’m not the best at solving problems, but I want to help,” John continued. “You’ve always helped me. I want to return the favour.”

_I can’t tell you. You’d hate me._

“It’s nothing, really,” Sera said. “I’m shaken from the interrogation. I’ll get over it.”

John looked unconvinced.

“I think I’m going to head back to my dorms,” Sera said. “I really am fine, John. Don’t worry about me.”

With that, she left.

* * *

John lowered his hand, watching Sera's retreating form slowly disappear into the distance. He stared back at the walls, at the posters of Elites.

Something wasn't making sense. There were inflammatory posters everywhere, detailing the wrongs every Elite had ever done. From Abel to Holden to Remi, every Elite had been smeared.

That is, every Elite but John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> It's been... a week. A lot of school stuff, and I've been kind of burnt out lately. It's like that sometimes. Hope you guys are doing well.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	14. Entering the Fray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker makes her first appearance.

Holden crossed his arms, keeping a sharp eye out for any deviants. Students were getting into far more fights between classes, facilitating him to break up them up far more than usual. Wellston was spiraling out of control, and Holden got the feeling that he was missing something important.

He scratched his head, recalling what his poster had talked about. It was practically seared into his mind, from the neat, bold text to the matte photo of him taken from the yearbook.

_I don’t shout **that** loud, do I???_

The bell tolled, its reverberations cutting through all the conversations in the courtyard. The crowd started to thin out as students headed to class, and Holden abandoned his usual post. He stepped through the rapidly-emptying courtyard, the rustling wind being the only thing keeping him company.

Gravel crunched behind him, alerting Holden to another’s presence. He turned.

At the edge of the courtyard was someone in the girl’s uniform, an executioner’s mask obscuring any identifiable features. The two empty sockets of the mask lit up bright blue, and at an incredible speed, the person leapt for Holden.

“What the-!” Holden shouted.

Students around him scrambled back, and Holden activated his ability, space bending as portal appeared behind him. Holden slipped through it, appearing behind Mask Girl. Holden reached out, fingers catching against the rough black material of her mask.

The girl disappeared. A moment later, a substantial force shoved Holden forward. He crashed to the ground, skidding across the pavement painfully. His exposed arms were left skinned, air stinging at the open wounds. Holden got back up, gingerly rolling down his sleeves in an attempt to prevent any further damage.

_The fu- Who even is the chick?_

Holden backed up, staring at Mask Girl. She was still at the other end of the courtyard, staring him down. A blue aura congealed around her, and Mask Girl leapt for Holden at an incredible speed.

Panicked, Holden created a portal right in front of him, but it was of no use. Mask Girl pivoted on her heel, dodging it, and ending up behind him.

_She’s fast and strong?_

Holden’s mind quickly spun through the options on who it could be. Remi had the speed and strength, but this girl lacked the trademark lightning Remi often employed in battle. Cecile didn’t have the firepower to do this, and Holden couldn’t think of any other Elite in the school who could attack like that, save for John.

_For now, I’ll have to get away and tell Arlo’s what happened._

Holden created a portal behind him, intending on moving somewhere into the school. It’d take up most of his stamina to create a portal of that caliber, but if it meant getting away from Mask Girl-

Holden was sent flying back by a sudden punch, crashing into the concrete wall. Holden’s back exploded with pain, and he coughed, bile rising in his throat. Mask Girl stood above him.

_How did she-?_

Mask Girl grabbed him by the collar, throwing him onto the ground once more. Holden didn’t get back up, faking unconsciousness while his mind moved at a mile a minute. A plan rapidly formed.

_If I can just make a portal beneath her, then I can get her away._

Holden’s teeth clenched, and he slammed a hand onto the ground. A portal opened beneath Mask Girl, but once again, time stuttered, and Mask Girl appeared a couple feet away from it instead.

_Time Manipulation...?_

A surge of blue rushed forward, and the last thing Holden saw was a leg swinging towards his head.

* * *

Cecile leaned against the windowsill, peering out the window as Seraphina finished Holden off. Once she finished, she disappeared in the blink of an eye. Juni placed a hand over her mouth.

“That was... brutal.” she said.

“I’ve seen worse,” Cecile replied. “You should’ve seen what John was like in Turf Wars back in the day.”

Juni looked nauseous. Cecile sighed.

“You knew exactly what you were signing up for,” Cecile said. “What did you expect, Juni? For Seraphina to just talk the Royals down? There’s only one way to move up the ranks- through fights.”

“I know, but-” Juni bit her lip. “How powerful is Seraphina? She can yell at Arlo without any repercussions, and it looks like she wasn’t even trying with Holden.”

“That’s the magnitude of a god-tier,” Cecile said. “Moving along, do you have everything ready?”

“Yep,” Juni murmured, pulling a phone out of her bag. “I got the burner phone like you asked.”

“Good. You know what to do.”

* * *

_So… Who’s next?_

Cecile had been rather angry about her position as head of the Press Team being stripped from her, so Sera supposed she should offer some kind of consolation. Besides, she had a bone to pick with Isen already, considering what he’d pulled on her in the past.

Sera opened the door to the Press Room. Isen sat at the head desk, looking over article submissions. When he saw Sera, he got to his feet. Recognition flickered in his eyes.

“Seraphina,” he said.

Sera didn’t reply, instead activating her ability. Isen did the same.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Isen said carefully. “Whatever it is, I can hel-“

Sera surged forwards, and she swung a punch. Isen ducked. He snatched a handful of submissions off the table, and flung them high into the air. Sheets of papers fluttered down obscuring her view. Isen took this opportunity, and grabbed her shirt, attempting to flip her over. Sera froze time before he could perform the action, prying herself free of his grip. Sera loomed over the frozen Isen, swinging a fist into his back.

Time unfroze, and Isen slammed into the ground. The tile beneath him splintered, cracking into dozens of shards. Isen got to his feet, wiping some blood from his now-broken nose.

“Time Manipulation, huh?” he muttered. “Pretty broken ability, if you ask me.”

Sera didn’t reply. A glowing reticle appeared above her chest, and Isen leapt, fist raised. Sera easily sidestepped the attack, Isen’s punch instead splitting a desk. He continued his attempted attacks, Sera easily dodging all the blows.

Time froze around Isen’s legs, stopping him in place. Isen struggled to move, a panicked look flashing across his face. As Sera calmly approached him, Isen tried to throw a punch, only for his fist to freeze in midair.

Grey slowly crept up Isen’s body, until everything but his eyes were frozen. Sera leaned in, and shoved him. Propelled by the momentum of her time freeze, Isen slammed against the wall, which shattered from the sheer force of the attack. Isen landed in the hallway with a thud. Nearby students shrieked with surprise, backing up quickly. They looked through the hole in the wall, at Sera.

Sera stepped through the hole, nodding at the students. With that, she froze time, and walked off.

* * *

_Okay. Okay. So first, it’s prophase, then metaphase, then... uh... interphase...???_

John sighed, flipping back to his notes to read over how mitosis worked again. Why his past self had decided that taking biology was an excellent idea, he had no idea.

_Maybe I shouldn’t have slacked off so much last year in science..._

John’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out, happy to have a respite from studying. Much to his confusion there was a text from an unknown number, with two photos attached.

 **JOKER:** RETRIBUTION IS COMING. WATCH YOURSELVES CAREFULLY.

John’s blood ran cold. “What the-?”

The first photo was of Holden, slumped against the cracked remains of one of the courtyard walls. It looked like one of his arms was broken, and his lolled head drenched with blood. The second photo was of a battered Isen, who was being carried to the infirmary.

John shoved his phone into his pocket and swept all of his school supplies into his bag. John immediately left his class, ignoring the shouts of the teacher behind him. He headed downstairs, in the infirmary's direction. When he entered, a very-annoyed Doc pointed at one of the beds, muttering a string of expletives under his breath. John headed over.

“... we do?” Elaine’s voice drifted from behind one curtain. “If-“

She stopped when she saw John. Arlo glanced over to him from behind a curtain.

“Arlo,” John said tersely. “I’m guessing you got the text too?”

In response, Arlo tugged aside the curtain. Isen sat on one of the hospital beds, covered in bruises. Holden was leaning against the wall, a thick pad of bandages wrapped around his forehead and arms.

“What the hell happened to you two?” John said.

Holden glared at them. “Well, we just got beat up by your fri-“

“-endly neighborhood masked man!” Isen finished frantically. “Holden and I got caught off guard by some girl wearing a mask. Holden got his ass whooped, and I got shoved through a wall.”

He glared back at Holden, tension palpable in the air.

_... I’m definitely missing something here._

“How did someone manage to overpower you two?” John said. “They’d have to be at least an elite-tier to do that.”

“Well, they fought us separately,” Holden admitted. “Judging by Isen’s description, they were definitely the same person.”

“What was their ability like?” John said. “I might know who they are.”

Isen wavered. “It’s nothing, John. Just some asshole running around in a mask. Don’t worry about it.”

“Too late.” John said. "I'm already worried."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the loud crash of the infirmary door swinging open. Remi ran in, quickly followed by Blyke.

“Isen!” Remi shouted.

“Well, isn’t this a party!” Isen joked, gesturing at the now-crowded infirmary. “Who knew you all cared so much about me?”

“Dude, what the hell happened?” Blyke said. “I heard you got thrown through a wall by a masked student.”

“Why were you even fighting in the hallways?” Remi agreed. “I heard the girl had some kind of speed-related ability?”

Isen's eyes trailed to Arlo. He laughed weakly. “It’s nothing. You know people have been itching to fight me ever since that article came out.”

“What they did to you isn’t okay!” Remi protested. “Even then, we can’t let this kind of behaviour run across the school like this! First Holden, then you got beat up like this!”

“Can you just please cut it out!” Isen snapped. “I just got shoved through a wall, and I really don’t want to talk about it here!”

“He’s got a point,” Blyke agreed. “Just let it go for now, Remi?”

Remi shook her head, turning to Arlo. “Are you hearing any of this, Arlo? Aren’t you concerned at all by what’s happening?”

Arlo was silent for a few moments. "I'll look into it."

Remi bit her lip. "Guys... First it was those posters, now this. Someone is purposefully going after the Elites. Isen and Holden were probably only the beginning. They're going to continue going after the Elites, until they're defeated, or they take down everyone."

"What's their level even?" Blyke said. "If they could defeat Isen, they'd have to be around his level. This isn't like some mid-tier who recently leveled up to elite-tier. They're probably a high-tier."

Isen bit his lip. He loudly groaned, rolling over. "Jeez! You all are making me feel even worse! How about we save this conversation for some other time? I need some rest."

Though disgruntled, Remi and Blyke begrudgingly filed out. John followed close behind them, lost in thought.

_An unknown high-tier running around Wellston..._

* * *

Sera was walking to one of her classes when Arlo approached her.

His hand clamped around her wrist, voice carefully measured. "Seraphina. A word."

He dragged her to one of the classrooms. Arlo slammed the door behind them, and whipped around to face Sera. His furious eyes shone blue, a golden barrier forming around them. Sera was unfazed.

“Why are you doing this?” Arlo said. “Isen and I never said anything about your secret.”

“Circumstances change,” Sera shot back. “It’s become clear to me just how much the school needs changes, and I intend to fix them.”

“How is beating up Elites fixing these changes?” Arlo said.

“Joker needs to gain notoriety somehow, right?” Sera said. “If I just dethroned you right away, no one would listen to me. No, first the students need to see Joker for who she is.”

“Which is?”

“A mouthpiece for all their frustrations,” Sera said. “All those times they wished for revenge? All those times they wanted the Elites to get what they deserve? Joker will deliver.”

“So, you’re intending on dragging everyone else down with you,” Arlo snapped.

“No one cared until someone in power suffered the consequences,” Sera said. “Why should I care about the Royals?"

“Your score is with me!” Arlo snapped. “They never did anything to you!”

“Exactly,” Seraphina replied. “ _They never did anything_. How likely is it they never noticed the bullying going on in lower tiers? Almost zero. They all knew exactly what was going on, and they just watched it go down.”

“It’s time for a reality check.” She finished. “I believe all of you need to learn a lesson. You burned down my world, now it’s time I burn down yours. Everyone in this school will finally see how useless you and the rest of the Royals are.”

She turned to leave. “This conversation is over. Drop your barrier. ”

Arlo didn’t. Sera glared, eyes shining blue. “Drop it.”

Slowly, the barrier flickered away, and Sera left the classroom. Arlo stood alone in the empty classroom. His fists clenched.

_This has gone too far. She needs to be stopped before things go any further._

* * *

Early next morning, Arlo stepped through the gates of the school with purpose. As always, John stood near the doors, lazily scrolling through his phone while he waited for Seraphina to arrive.

“John.” Arlo said.

John looked up. A brief look of disgust fluttered across his face. Before John could leave, Arlo grabbed his wrist.

“We need to talk.” he said.

Without waiting for an answer, Arlo dragged him away. John tried to break free, but it was futile thanks to Arlo’s passive. Arlo dragged John away from the hubbub of the gates, towards a secluded courtyard. John finally wrenched his arm free, rubbing his sore wrist.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” John said, turning to leave. “Leave me alone.”

“John, you need to listen!” Arlo shouted, a rare act of hastiness. He took a deep breath, composing himself. “Seraphina has an ability. She is Joker.”

* * *

**BONUS:**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best with that ability chart. I might tweak it a bit later, but I thought it'd be a fun bonus. Expect to see a couple more of them from time to time.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage


	15. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything starts falling into place.

“Seraphina is Joker.”

John stopped dead in his tracks.

_Sera... Joker...?_

Why would he say something like that? The notion that Sera could be Joker was completely absurd. Sera wasn’t Joker, she was _Sera._

John slowly turned, staring back at Arlo. Arlo said nothing else, only waiting for a reaction from him.

_Why would he say something like that? Is just trying to get a rise out of me again?_

_Is this some dumb attempt to drag Sera and I apart?_

_He has to be lying._

His fists clenched.

_Really Arlo? **REALLY?**_

John was tired of constantly having to stave off Arlo’s repeated attempts to drag him back into the Royals. It had been the same trick every time, just dressed up in new lies in an attempt to deceive John. But this time, he’d gone too far.

Before John knew it, he had grabbed Arlo by the tie, yanking him down to head-level. “Arlo, I’m getting real _sick_ of your lies.”

“You can’t seem to get it through your head that I don’t want to be King. You don't that I’ve been protecting low-tiers,” his grip on Arlo tightened, voice growing venomous. “Hate me all you want. But _stay away_ from Sera.”

“John, I’m not lying to you this time,” Arlo said. “You can’t tell me you haven’t begun to put things together. You know the ability of just about every student in this school. Joker has a grudge against all high-rankers. No known student in this school has time manipulation. Whenever Sera’s gone, Joker strikes.”

“Will you just shut up already!” John shouted. “For once, will you stop trying to make my life hell!”

Without waiting for a response, John dropped Arlo. He paced around, throwing his hands into the air. “For the last few months, you’ve been trying to ruin Sera's and I’s friendship. Getting me suspended. Beating her up at Turf Wars. Now doing whatever the hell this is to drive a wedge between us! I’m sick of it!”

“What did she ever do to you!?” John shouted. “All Sera wants to do is stay out of things, and you keep dragging her in!”

He dropped his head into his hands, breaths shuddering. Arlo watched on, silent.

“Just give me one good reason I should believe you, after all the times you’ve manipulated and lied to me,” John said tiredly. “Don’t you think it’s time to _fucking stop_?”

The two of them stood silently. Finally, Arlo drew a breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’re right. There’s no reason for you to believe me now. But I am telling the truth.”

With that, he turned on his heel, walking away.

* * *

Sera sat on the rooftop, lunch tray balanced in her lap. The morning had gone by rather uneventfully, and Sera was currently dead bored, waiting for John to arrive.

The rooftop door clicked open, and Sera looked up. Much to her disappointment, it wasn’t John standing in the doorway, but Evie, carrying her own lunch tray. Evie gave her an awkward smile.

“Hey…!” she said. “I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“I was busy with schoolwork,” Sera said monotonously.

Evie nodded and sat down near Sera. She tapped the heels of her loafers onto the ground and began eating her lunch. Awkwardness permeated the air. Sera glanced up at the analog clock attached above the door to the rooftop, watching as the second hand steadily ticked around and around, again and again.

“So...”

Evie smiled awkwardly at Sera. “Guess the others are running late! I wonder where they are.”

Sera watched Evie with a blank stare. “John’s probably gotten distracted by something.”

“Oh!”

They both were silent before Evie tried again.

Evie bobbed her head. “How are classes?”

“Good.”

“... Life in general?”

“Alright.”

Evie started sweating.

Sera knew she was being purposefully curt, but she wasn’t in the mood for conversation at the moment, especially with someone like Evie. Though she’d never directly admit it, she couldn’t help but be annoyed that John had invited all of them to join them on the rooftop.

The door to the rooftop swung open, revealing John. Beside her, Evie relaxed. Sera did the same.

_Good, this was getting awkward._

“Hey guys!” John said. “How’s lunch going?”

“It’s going well,” Evie said. “We were... talking?”

“You know how it is,” Sera said. “Low-tier things.”

Even if the air between them was awkward, both of them had come to the nonverbal agreement that they should pretend to be friendly with each other when John was around, lest they make things even more uncomfortable.

“How was class?” John said.

“Boring,” Sera said. “And too easy.”

“Easy,” John repeated, shaking his head. “For you, maybe.”

He turned to Evie. “How’s school going for you?”

“Good!” Evie chirped. “We got assigned a project in English.”

“Really?” John said. “Damn. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped.”

“Why did you?”

An odd expression came across John’s face. “Something weird happened this morning. It knocked me off-kilter.”

Sera was about to question him further when her phone buzzed. She quickly glanced down at it, and got up. “I have to go.”

“Huh? What is it?” John said.

“It’s nothing big,” Sera replied. “I have a meeting with one of my teachers.”

Before John could get another question in, Sera was already opening the door to the roof, escaping down the flight of stairs. She fished the black mask out of her backpack, ducking into a deserted corner before tugging it over her face. Once she finished, she stopped time, walking past the clumps of frozen students to the courtyard, until she found a particular one.

Sera unfroze time. As she did so, Zeke turned, a cocky grin on his face.

“So there you are, Joker,” Zeke said, holding up his phone. “I got your little challenge. What’re you-“

Sera sped up, swinging her leg into his stomach. Zeke launched across the courtyard, crashing into one of the concrete walls. Students scrambled back, running into the school for refuge.

_Let’s play, shall we?_

Zeke got back to his feet, a blue glow cloaking his body. It seemed he’d shifted into defense form for increased durability. It would be impossible to incapacitate her in that state though, and both of them knew it.

Switching to attack form, Zeke’s speed increased, and he charged for. Seraphina’s passive in conjunction with her slowing down time made it simple to dance around his attacks. Sera tilted her head, amused by Zeke’s steadily heightening frustration.

Their game continued- Zeke flinging punch after punch, trying to catch her off guard, while Sera dodged everything.

Zeke grunted. “Stand- still- you little-!”

As he threw a punch, time stopped around his fist, trapping him. Zeke tried to pry himself free, but it was of no use. His limbs couldn’t budge an inch. The freeze crept up the rest of his body, until everything but his terrified eyes were frozen.

Sera sped up, and buried a fist into his stomach. She unfroze time as she did so, sending Zeke flying into the air. He hit the ground with a satisfying crunch. He didn’t move, having been knocked.

Sera strode towards him, cracking her knuckles.

_Time to end this._

* * *

After Sera’s abrupt leave, an awkward silence had fallen over Evie and John.

“... Sorry about that,” John said. “She’s not like this usually.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Evie said, though her eyes were downcast. “I don’t think she’s liked me much since the start.”

The door to the roof creaked open, Roland and Terrance entering. Bandages covered both of them, and they were carrying lunch trays in their hands.

“Are you two alright?” John said.

“We’re good,” Terrance said, scratching his bandaged cheek. “I had an unfortunate run-in with a mid-tier. Nothing to worry about.”

“It’s just like that sometimes,” Roland agreed. “We met up in the infirmary.”

He sat down with a sigh, grabbing a fork from his lunch tray. “I don’t really want to talk about it. How’s it going with you two?”

“The usual,” Evie said. “I mean, I’ve been getting attacked a lot less lately!”

“Really?” Roland said. “Why?”

“I’d like to think it’s because of my newly gained fighting skills,” Evie said proudly. She deflated. “Though, I think it’s more because of John, and Joker.”

“Eh?” John said.

“Well, you’ve been helping us,” Evie said. An odd expression came over her face. “With Joker running around, I heard a couple mid-tiers talking about making a stand as well. They're more focused on finding a good way to get revenge than beating up low-tiers.”

“What?!” Roland sputtered. Terrance looked similarly unnerved.

“Well, you know how they are,” Evie said. “They think Joker’s on their side. According to them, Joker would’ve had to have hidden herself as a lower-tier.”

“Really?” John said.

“Well, everyone thought this school only had two god-tiers: you and Arlo.” Evie said lamely. “Joker’s pretty powerful.”

“So they think Joker is on their side?” Terrance said. “Makes sense. She is only targeting high-tiers.”

John stared off, half-listening to their conversation.

_She would've hidden herself as lower tier... There’s no way Joker would have remained undetected by Arlo or me unless she was mid or low-tier._

_**Or a cripple.** _

“I’d imagine she’d have a lot of pent-up hatred for higher tiers,” John said slowly. “She’d likely gotten beaten up by them at least once.”

“Exactly!” Evie said. “I think it’s some weird revenge scheme!”

“Bit too violent for my taste,” Roland sighed. “You should’ve seen the way she beat up Holden. She could’ve taken him down in a single hit, but prolonged it instead. She wins a fight and stabs the person an extra five times for good measure.”

“Alright, Roland, stop it…!” Terrence said. “Way to ruin my appetite.”

He spun the fork in his hand, and sighed. “Some people on the Press Team were discussing the possibility that it might be you, John.”

“What?” John said.

“It’s the only other logical conclusion,” Terrence justified. “To have that skill set, they’d have to have high speed, and power. Remi’s the only other real option, but Joker’s never used lightning before, and her power output is much higher.”

His verdant irises turned to John. “You’re the only one who could exert that much force, and you have a motive.”

“What the hell do you mean!?” John said. “What motive would I have?”

“You and Arlo never really got along after you stopped being a Royal,” Terrence said. “Factor in that you were the only Elite who wasn’t smeared, and that almost none of the high-tiers seemed to care about your cause, it leads to a singular conclusion- you wanted to teach them a lesson.”

“That’s all just speculation,” John said. “While I certainly don’t like Arlo, the other Elites never did anything to me. I have no reason to spite them like that.”

Terrence was about to answer when his phone buzzed, as did the other’s. Confused, John pulled out his phone, looking at the text he had received.

_**JOKER:** One by one, they all fall down._

Attached to the text was a picture of Zeke’s battered body.

“See, it couldn’t have been me,” John said acridly. “How could I have done that, when I’m right here?”

“Like I said, it was just a rumour,” Terrence said. He shrugged. “I never believed it, but others may. No matter how much proof there is, there’s always going to be doubters.”

A tenuous silence fell over them. Roland saw it fit to break it with a low whistle.

“Jeez, she really didn’t hold back this time with Zeke, huh?” he said. “I guess even she has a bone to pick with Zeke.”

“I remember his ‘greeting’ to the boy’s dorms,” Terrance agreed. “Landed me in the infirmary on my third day at Wellston.”

“Third? Lucky. He nabbed me on my first.”

“Jeez, Roland.”

* * *

Sera slipped into an empty classroom, shoving the mask back into her bag. She turned to Cecile, who was leaning against the wall.

“Who are you going to take down next?” Cecile said.

“Next?” Sera lifted a finger to her lips, then lazily twisted her wrist, pointing at Cecile. “I suppose it’s you.”

To say Cecile was shocked was an understatement.

“What?!” Cecile shouted. “But-“

“Joker can’t skip an Elite,” Sera said. “What would they say? ‘Joker goes easy on those she likes. Why did Cecile get spared?’”

“What about Blyke?!” Cecile snapped. “He’s ranked lower than me!”

“I’ll fight him in due time,” Sera promised. “I’ve got something special in mind for that one. In the meantime, there’s only one person left before I can move onto the Royals. You.”

“That wasn’t part of our plan!” Cecile said angrily.

“Yes, it was,” Sera replied. “Don’t worry, Cecile. It’ll be the first and last time I’ll ever fight you.”

Cecile backed up slightly, biting her lip.

“Don’t take it personally,” Seraphina calmly advised. “For Joker to establish her presence, she’ll need to be through. It’ll happen tomorrow at noon in the courtyard.”

* * *

Evie walked alone to her class, shooting glances from side to side for any potential angry mid-tiers looking for a way to blow off steam. As she did, Lin sidled up to her, leaning in to whisper.

“Hey Evie.”

“Lin? What is it?” Evie said. While most low-tiers were familiar with each other, Evie could hardly call him anything more than a mild acquaintance.

“I heard you can blind people with your ability,” Lin said. “Illumination, right?”

“... Yeah?” Evie said, confused. “It isn’t very strong.”

“I’m not one to judge,” Lin said, waving a hand. “Look, me and a couple other low-tiers were thinking of meeting up after school, and teaching a mid-tier or two a lesson. Want to join us?”

“What!?” Evie sputtered. “Lin, are you looking for trouble? If you-“

“If what?” Lin said, a grin spreading across his face. “At worst, we’ll get beat up. Nothing new, right? I don’t think a mid-tier could overcome four low-tiers at once. They deserve it.”

Evie clutched her books tighter. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Lin said. “Join us behind the school after class if you’re interested. Hell, if we could gather enough low-tiers, we might even be able to take down one of the weaker Elites.”

He winked at her, slinking away. Evie watched as he left, trepidation blooming in her.

* * *

_“You’re right. There’s no reason for you to believe me now. But I am telling the truth.”_

John rubbed his temples, the words still weighing on him a day later. His mind worked, trying to discern if there was any other meaning to the words. Why was Arlo acting like that? Something wasn’t adding up.

“Coming through!”

A student shoved past him, running towards the windows.

“What’s going on?” John said.

“Joker’s fighting Cecile in the courtyard!” the first person’s friend yelled, barely paying John any attention as he sprinted past.

_What?_

John followed quickly after them, coming to a stop at one window. Outside, a battered Cecile was facing off against the masked Joker. Joker’s mask covered their entire face, leaving no discernible features for John to pick up on.

John watched as Joker fought, the two sockets in her black mask glowing bright blue. She easily outclassed Cecile, dodging every single blow and landing every single strike on her.

Joker was out of range, so he couldn’t copy her ability. Judging by her movements, however, and the previous reports of other Elites who’d gotten beaten up, John put pieces together. Joker’s form would occasionally stutter, before appearing in a different place. Other times, she would simply speed up and dodge any incoming attacks.

_Something related to speed?_

Joker waved an arm, and both of Cecile’s arms went gray, unable to move. Cecile was locked in place as Joker approached, ready to deal the final blow.

_Time._

_-_

_“What about you?” John said. “Do you have an ability?”_

_“Time Manipulation,” Leilah replied. “I think I’m roughly a 6.4?”_

_-_

__

John’s body went stiff.

_Leilah’s ability is Time Manipulation, and abilities commonly run in the family._

_Sera’s eyes are blue, just like Joker’s._

_She isn’t a fan of most of the Elites._

_Could she-?_

_**NO.** _

John turned away from the match, a strange buzzing filling his head. He didn’t want to watch anymore, because he was afraid of what he might see.

Why would she hide her ability? What is the purpose of that? Why would she lie to me for this long? That’s irrational.

_**You’ve been brushing things off for an awfully long time. The mid-tier hospitalization. Evie and Roland’s fear. Arlo and the others acting weird around her. Joker herself.** _

_**Are you being irrational, or is it just that you don’t want to recognize the truth?** _

John swiftly walked away from the window, fingers digging into his scalp. A pit in his stomach rapidly formed, a strange numbness spreading through his limbs.

_Sera isn’t Joker. She can’t be._

_That- that would mean that she’s been lying this whole time._

_**She can’t be lying.** _

_**She’s Sera.** _

_**She isn’t a liar.** _

_**She doesn’t have an ability.** _

* * *

Juni slid into the infirmary, phone hidden in her back pocket. She’d taken all the photos she needed, so all she’d had to do was send them off to all the recipients. Cecile had already been deposited to the infirmary, courtesy of Otis, who’d insisted on bringing her there. Otis was already standing by the bed, waiting for Cecile to wake up. He turned when he saw Juni.

“What brings you here?” he said.

“What? I can’t visit Cecile?” Juni muttered. She’d hoped that he would've already left. “I saw what happened from one of the windows.”

Cecile stirred, violet eyes fluttering open. Otis snapped to attention.

“You’re awake! How’re you feeling?”

“Otis,” Cecile muttered. Her eyes flickered to her left. “Juni.”

“Are you alright?” Juni said.

“I’ll live,” Cecile replied, sitting up.

“Joker is despicable,” Otis muttered, crossing his arms. “Anymore, and you’d be in the hospital.”

Cecile only sighed in response. Otis continued.

“Something needs to be done about her soon,” he protested. “The students are freaking out. The school’s a complete mess.”

“That’s for the King and Queen to handle,” Cecile replied. “There’s nothing I can do at this point.”

“But-“

“But nothing.” Cecile said. “What can I do? I was just defeated.”

“Well, I-” Otis stopped. “Arlo isn’t doing anything, and I’m not even sure what’s happening with Remi.”

Cecile observed him. “How do you feel about Joker, Otis?”

Otis sighed. “I don’t know. I hate that she beat you up like this, Cecile. But at the same time, that prick Isen had it coming. Always bragging about he got top article, when I know _I_ could do far better than that slimy little-“

“We know,” Juni said, having fallen victim to Otis’ rambling rants far too many times. “But what do you think about everyone else who got beat up?”

“I don’t know,” Otis vaguely waved his hand. “Zeke’s an absolute dick and Holden doesn’t know how to shut up, so I don’t really care. It doesn’t really concern me.”

“That said, I could probably get a superb article out,” Otis muttered, scratching his chin. “Especially now that Isen’s head of the Press Team, he isn’t allowed to make himself top article all the time. Heh heh. This could be my opportunity.”

“… Right,” Juni said.

“I just wish I knew what was going through John’s head right now,” Otis muttered. “It’d really shoot my article to the next level. He never got smeared, and the guy’s been completely off his rocker ever since he stopped being King.”

“Why don’t you ask Roland?” Juni said. “He’s been hanging out with John lately.”

Otis scoffed at the mention of his brother, and he crossed his arms. “Never mind. I’ll figure something else out.”

* * *

Remi sat alone in one of the school’s many classroom, spinning her phone in her hand. Every now and then, she unlocked it, glancing down at the texting function of her phone.

_Where are they?_

Finally, both of them came.

"I'm telling you man, I don't know which pen is better," Isen said, showing his phone to Blyke. "Which one do you prefer? The one with the ergonomic grip, or the one with four different colours of ink?"

"I don't know," Blyke replied, annoyed. "You already have a billion pens in your dorm room. Do you even use them, or do you just drool over them all day?"

Isen looked incredibly offended at that statement. "Hey! You can't trash it, considering you borrow them all the time!"

"That's different!" Blyke protested. He shook his head, ready to change the subject. "Hey Remi. Why do you ask to meet us here?"

“I wanted to talk to you guys about something.” Remi said, slipping her phone into her pocket.

“Shoot.” Isen said.

“I’ve been thinking,” Remi said. “About how Joker could’ve gotten away with hiding for this long. She’d have to pretend to be weaker than she actually was in order to slip under the radar.” 

Isen remained silent. Blyke nodded. “Continue.”

“John’s passive allows him to sense ability activation,” Remi said. “Don’t you think he would’ve noticed how powerful Joker was before all of this happened?”

“That’s true,” Blyke said.

“The only way Joker would’ve been able to escape his detection is if she never activated her powers in the first place,” Remi said. “She’s been under our noses this entire time. She'd have to pretend to be a cripple.”

“Seraphina?” Blyke said. “That makes sense. Isen, what do you-?”

He stopped mid-sentence. His voice grew cold with realization. “Isen. You were oddly obsessed with Seraphina a month ago. To the point where you went digging through her school records for information. Then you told me to treat her nicer.”

Isen didn’t respond, and Blyke took that as confirmation.

Blyke roughly grabbed Isen by the shirt, lifting him up. “You knew all along, and you never told us!”

“I-!”

“What the hell is wrong with you, you asshole!” Blyke shouted. "We agreed we wouldn't be keeping secrets from each other anymore!"

“I hid it from you, because Seraphina threatened me!” Isen yelled. “She said if I told anyone, she’d beat me up!”

“Bitch, she _already_ beat you up, and you _still_ remained silent!” Blyke shouted. “Let me guess, John doesn’t know either? You think it’s fun watching him run around unaware like that!?”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Isen shot back. “I-!”

“Enough!”

A spark of blue lightning shot between them. Remi lowered her finger, eyes burning orange.

“We don’t have to time fight among ourselves like this,” she said. “Isen, you better start explaining.”

Blyke dropped Isen. Straightening out the wrinkles in his creased shirt, Isen sighed.

“Let’s see. It all started with that Turf Wars against Agwin. John fought Arlo there, and it was messy as hell. After that, Arlo asked me to tail Seraphina, as she was friends with John.”

“He thought she was the reason he changed,” Remi said.

“Exactly,” Isen said. “I went digging through her records and-”

“Isen, you said you wouldn’t do that anymore!” Remi said.

“Do you want the story or not?!” Isen replied, frustrated. “Seraphina was a 7.0 two years ago. If I had to guess, she’s on the same level as John by now.”

“That explains why she’s so powerful,” Blyke muttered.

“I tried to warn Arlo not to do anything, but he didn’t listen.” Isen said. “He went ahead with befriending Seraphina, and took her to Turf Wars.”

“Arlo was awfully close to Seraphina for a couple weeks,” Remi mused. Her eyes widened. “Then, they stopped hanging out, right around the time Arlo got beat up! That day-!”

“That day, Arlo tried to ambush Seraphina,” Isen said. “Ventus and Meili were there too. Seraphina beat all of them.”

Blyke sat down on one of the other desks, rubbing his forehead. “Okay, so she hates Arlo and those two. Fair. Why is she doing this to us then?”

“I kinda broke her wrist during an interview,” Isen muttered. “Probably doesn’t help that you shot at her head that one time.”

“And that warrants this?” Blyke said, waving his arms around him. “Smearing us? Beating the shit out of Elites? There’s a thing called disproportionate retribution, you know!”

“She could’ve talked to us about this,” Remi agreed. “Why do this? From what it sounds like, the brunt of her anger comes from Arlo betraying her.”

“I’m not sure why,” Isen said. “She isn’t one for explanations. All I know is that she’s dangerous, and you don’t want to get on her bad side.”

“Which we did,” Blyke said. He crossed his arms. “What’re we going to do then?”

Isen deflated. “I… I have no idea. We can’t attack her. She’s clearly committed to her act, and attacking her would only solidify the suspicions the school already has on us.”

“So we wait for her to attack Remi and I on her own terms?” Blyke said. “She can easily take us down one on one, so that isn't going to work. We need to find a weak point.”

“A weak point,” Remi murmured. “Someone with enough power to take her on.”

The room fell silent as all of them came to the same conclusion.

_**John.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, I'm back. I hope everyone's had a good week.
> 
> I'll be going on hiatus for a bit. There are four chapters left in Retribution, and I want to take a bit more time make sure they're polished to my usual standard (especially the final two). Hopefully I'll be back sometime early March. 
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> \- Book Mage

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [ tumblr! ](https://book-mage.tumblr.com/)


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